NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 102:

Sankara quotes:

When the force of the Desire for the Truth blossoms, selfish desires wither away, just like darkness vanishes before the radiance of the light of dawn.

By achieving the purity of an habitual Discrimination & Dispassion, the Mind is inclined to Liberation, so the wise seeker after Liberation should first develop these.

If you really have a desire for Liberation, avoid the Senses from a great distance, as you would poison, & continually practice the nectar-like qualities of contentment, compassion, forbearance, honesty, calm and restraint.

The wise talk here of 4 Qualities, possessed of which one will succeed, but without which one will fail. First is listed Discrimination between unchanging & changing realities, & after that Dispassion for the enjoyment of the fruits of action both here & hereafter, &and then the group of 6 Qualities including Peace & of course the Desire for Liberation.

Dispassion is the turning away from what can be seen & heard & so on in everything which is impermanent.

The settling of the Mind in its goal, by turning away from the mass of objects through observing their defects again & again, is known as Peace.

The establishment of the senses each in its own source by means of turning away from their objects is known as Control. The supreme Restraint is in the Mind function not being involved in anything external.

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 37:

(13)  The sense of possession, which thinks “this is mine, mine, the Ego which thinks of “I”, “I”, the variegated things that are considered internal —  all appearances of such different categories are such profound certitude of the undivided Absolute, abide as the taintless Supreme Brahman alone.

(14)  The forms of Matter such as Energy, Space, Gas, Liquid, Solid, the categories of Life functions such as Speech etc., the endless variety of the World to which the experiencer is subject.  The millions of galaxies in the Cosmos — all such baseless appearances of such different categories are of the nature of the Supreme Brahman.  By such undiminishing certitude of the undivided Absolute, abide as the Non-Dual Supreme Brahman alone.

(17)  All projections that arise as in a picture. such as the decisive functioning of the Intellect, the doubtful functioning of the Mind,. the ghostlike emanations of thought, the multiplicity of experiences — all these activities are of the nature of the Supreme Brahman, Consciousness alone.  By such clear certitude of the undivided Absolute, abide as the Supreme Brahman, the mass of Bliss alone.

Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi’s “Upadesa Saram” with 10 Meditation points by his disciple, Master Nome:

(16)  The Seen warded off, the Mind is of the Self. The revelation of Consciousness is the revelation of the Truth.

1. Consciousness plus the supposition of the objective, gross or subtle, appears as a Mind. Devoid of the objective, the only thing that remains of the Mind is Consciousness, which is the Self.
2. There is no such thing as a non-objective thought. There is no such thing as a Mind without thought. These are merely imagined where there is, in truth, only one tattva, the that is truth or principle.
3. The objective is form, multiple, transitory, limited, the perceived & the conceived, not the Self, & unreal. The non-objective is Formless, Non-Dual, Eternal, unlimited, neither perceived nor conceived, is the Self, & is the Reality
4. The objects are only of the Mind, the Mind is only of the Self, the Self is only unalloyed, Absolute Consciousness, & Consciousness, itself is the Truth.
5. To know the Truth, one should make his vision non-objective. Consciousness is Truth. Its revelation or itself to itself is non-objective.
6. The very Consciousness that, appearing as Mind, turns inward to see the Truth, free of delusive objective definitions, is not a Mind at all but is of the very nature of the Self.
7. One who pursues Consciousness is Consciousness, for that is the only Knower. The Truth revealed & one for whom the Truth is revealed are the same, for that is the only Being.
8. Warding off or turning away from the objective, is by knowledge, & not by objective means. Knowledge is the fruit of Self-Inquiry.
9. The revelation of the Consciousness of the Self, in which the non-objective illusion of the Mind does not arise, is the revelation of Truth.
10. The perception of That is the perception of self–luminous Consciousness of the Self, which is self–revealed when that which is objective is no longer imagined in the Mind.

(17)  What then is the Mind ?  Upon seeking, there is not indeed the Mind.  This is the direct path.

1. The unreal appears as if Real by non–inquiry. Upon Self-Inquiry it vanishes.
2. Illusions, such as the Mind, is only assumption.
3. True knowledge, which is the essence of Self-Inquiry, is not unreal, for the unreal cannot destroy itself or reveal its own Existence.
4. That, which knows that the Mind is it is not is not existent, is not the Mind, & is never non–existent. It is immutable, beginningless, & endless.
5. If one assumes that appearances a real, from the form of thoughts, a Mind is assumed. If one seeks the Mind itself, there is neither the form no thought, & devoid of assumptions, no such thing as Mind is found to exist. One Formless Consciousness exists & is Real.
6. That which does not assume the validity of suppositions concerning what is Real & what is I, but discerns clearly, unimpeded by assumptions, is the Direct Path, for such Self-Inquiry to know itself does not include any of the Dualism that one strives transcend. 7.  To assume the Mind exists & is oneself &, maintaining that supposition, attempt to destroy the Mind & its delusions, is indirect & is an attempt to realize the Truth upon a basis of that which is false.  Knowledge is not attained by means of Ignorance. In the abandonment of Ignorance, Knowledge shines.
7. Comprehension of Ignorance, as being only Ignorance, is its end. The Realization of the unreality of the Mind is known as its complete, final destruction. For that which was never born, never existed, there is no return.
8. If there were a Mind, it might divide the Self from oneself. If there is no Mind, there is no such separation.
9. By the Direct Path of Truth, by the light of Self-Inquiry, in which imagined divisions are no longer assumed, the Self knows itself with Mind–free knowledge, as indivisible one Reality. What could be more direct than the one Self as it is ?

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

“What am I ?”   “What is the purpose of this existence ?”  “What is Life ?”   “What happens after Death ?”

Many systems of philosophy claim to answer these questions, but not many can offer at the same time the means to experience directly the truths they contain; and when the means are lacking, it is a sure sign that the answers themselves are inadequate.

When the right answers are given & understood, they bring about such a revolution in the Mind of the seeker that until he has experienced them in the most concrete manner, he feels he cannot rest. Advaita Vedanta  or “Non-Duality”, and has been practiced in India from the most ancient times right up to the present, (though in its purest form it has not been practiced by the majority of that population).

We are concerned with finding answers to our questions. The meaning of Vedanta,is the end or attainment of Knowledge. Here is an attempt to find a solution to those problems which have always faced mankind.

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

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.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 101:

Sankara quotes:

Through information, digging, & casting aside the stones, a treasure may be found, but not by calling it to come forth.

The products of natural Causation, from the idea of Doership down to the Body itself & all its Senses, are also unreal in view of the way they are changing every moment, while one’s True Nature itself never changes.

Give up identification with this mass of flesh as well as with what thinks it a mass. Both are Intellectual imaginations. Recognize your true Self as undifferentiated awareness, unaffected by Time, Past, Present or Future, & enter Peace.

So long as even a dreamlike awareness of yourself as an Individual in the World remains, as a wise person, persistently see to the removal of all ideas of additions to your true Self.

The tendency to see “me” & “mine” in the Body & the Senses, which are not oneself, must be done away with by the wise by remaining identified with one’s true Self.

The sage who stands in the Eternal, the Self of being, ever full, of the 2^ndless Bliss of the Self, has none of the hopes fitted to Time & Space that make for the formation of a Body of skin, & flesh, subject to dissolution.

When the false self ceases utterly, & the notions of the Mind caused by it come to an end, then, by discerning the hidden Self, the Real Truth that “I AM THAT” is found.

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 37:

(8)  What is conceived of as separate is Duality. the Inquiry into the undivided Supreme Brahman will remove this misconception.  All that are of the nature of Delusion — all that are completely unreal —  all such appearances are of the nature of the partless Supreme Brahman.  By such certitude of the undivided Supreme.  Undefiled by the idea of anything apart.  Abide as the exalted Supreme Brahman alone.

(11)  That I am ever the Individual subject to Bondage, that I am ever Brahman without Bondage.  That all this wondrous World and such are unreal — all such perceptions are of the nature of the all pervasive Supreme Brahman.  By such exalted certitude of the undivided Absolute, abide as the taintless Supreme Brahman alone.

(12)  All the ideas that cloud the Mind.  Such as the actions to be performed daily, the steadfast devotion, the endless contemplation of God, and the worship at shrines, are all of the nature of the exalted Supreme Brahman.  By such profound certitude of the undivided Absolute, abide as the taintless Supreme Brahman alone.

Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi’s “Upadesa Saram” with 10 Meditation points by his disciple, Master Nome:

(14)   From controlling the Prana, the Mind is dissolved.  From thought of the One, that Mind reaches destruction

1. Prana does not know. When suppressed or controlled, it does not know it is so. If Prana dissolves or merges, it does not know in what it dissolves or with what it merges. 2. The Mind does not know. When dissolved or merged, it does not know in what it is dissolved or with what it is merged. 
2. The one Consciousness alone knows. The Mind is not a 2^nd knower. It is merely the Known & cannot know the true Knowledge.
3. Alteration, reduction, dissolution, etc. of objective appearance, such as Prana, alters, reduces, & dissolves the activity of Mind. This is not final, for it is not Absolute. Non-objective Self–Knowledge alone destroys Illusion. 
4. Contemplation of the One becomes singular contemplation in which there is no division of contemplator & contemplated.
5. Thought cannot know. It neither knows itself nor other thoughts. It cannot know the Self. In the thought of the one Self, it is the knowledge–essence that shines.
6. If that which appears as thought turns inward in a singular manner, the Mind is destroyed, & only the one Consciousness remains.
7. That which appears as the One Thought, which is the thought of the Absolute Self, of the non-objective & Eternal, of that which is thought–transcendent, is in essence really not a thought–form at all. The One Self shines for itself.
8. Due to is a singular contemplation, from the One Thought of the One, the Mind is said to then reach destruction. How can the Mind reach where it is not ? That one, undifferentiated Consciousness reposes in the self, as itself. 
9. Singularly inward turned, contemplating in the inconceivable, no 2^nd Knower is found to exist, & the One alone remains

(15)  With Mind destroyed, for the exalted yogi, because of his Self-Abidance is there anything to be done ? 

1. With Mind destroyed, the yogi exist as only Mind–free Being–Consciousness. No Mind is no Individuality. Being–Consciousness exists as itself.
2. The real Self cannot be destroyed. Only the unreal is destructible. The individual Mind is ever unreal & does not realize. The yogi is solely identified as a real Self, which realizes itself. The yogi who knows the Self is the Self always.
3. Exalted above the World, Body, Mind, & Ego, the yogi’s very nature is in Union, yoga, with the Absolute Self, for the Self is only one. This is excellent, for such is the highest Bliss.
4. As long as there’s nothing else other than the Supremely blissful, Eternal Being of the Self, there will be the urge to accomplish, in order to attain Happiness, to know what is Real, to find oneself. For the exalted yogi who rests in that as that, there is nothing else to be accomplished.

5, For something else, either as purpose or doer, something needs to be done. The natural state of one’s own Self, Being itself, how can there be the ideas of the to–be–done & one who does ?  Does one do anything to exist ?  Is Existence not Eternal but only to begin at a later time ?  The exalted yogi abides in as his own Nature.

6. Since Being is as it is & is Non-Dual, Abidance is Knowledge; not knowledge of or by another, but knowledge identical with Being. Consciousness is Knowledge.
7. Abidance is Being, not becoming another. The Self is Being. Being is not a thing, an activity, or an event.
8. Activity is for the instruments of the Body, Speech, & Mind, or for the Senses, or for the Sheaths (“layers” of Mind). Free of mis-identification with any of these, abiding as the Self alone, the yogi truly never does anything.
9. Being something other than the Self, doing & the to–be–done, & indeed anything else whatsoever, are entirely in an of the Mind. These are utterly inapplicable, indeed non-existent, for the exalted yogi whose Mind is destroyed & who thus abides as the Self.
10. The destroyer is Siva, the one who remains is Siva, the excellence is a Siva, the yogi Siva, the all accomplishing is Siva, the ever-attained Siva, the Self is Siva, the Abidance is Siva, & Siva is always Siva. The yogi attains that which leaves nothing further to be attained, experiences the Happiness that leaves no other joy to be desired, knows that which leaves nothing else to know, realizes that which leaves nothing else to realize, & abides as that for which there is no other existence.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Duality is the seeming division of non-dual Consciousness into thinker & thought, or subject & object. The one [thinker & subject] being conscious of the other [thought & object].  Duality is only a figment.  When I am conscious of an object, that is, of a Notion or a Percept, that object alone is present.  When I am conscious of my perceiving, what alone presents itself to Consciousness is the Notion that “I perceive the object”.  Therefore the notion of my being the Perceiver also constitutes an object of Consciousness.  From this, a most important fact emerges: the so-called subject who thinks, & its apparent object, have no immediate relation.

That the notions of subject & object are separate thoughts may be seen from the following example, drawn from everyday Life. When we are absorbed in some activity, let us say in reading a book, we experience a steady flow of thoughts relating to its contents. The notion, “I am reading” does not occur while we are thus absorbed.  It occurs only when our attention wavers.

Even when we are not thus absorbed for any appreciable lapse of time, the subject who afterwards lays claim to the action was not present to Consciousness when the action was taking place.  The idea of our being the agent occurs to us as a separate thought, which is to say that it forms an entirely fresh object of Consciousness. And since, at the time of the occurrence, we were present as neither the Thinker, the Agent [actor], the Perceiver, nor the Enjoyer [includes Sufferer], no subsequent claim on our part could alter the position.

The cause of our claiming that which belongs to the Body is to be found in the erroneous habit of mis-identification. If the notions of subject & object are both the separate objects of Consciousness, neither term has any real significance. An object, in the absence of a subject, cannot be what is normally called an object.  The subject, in the absence of an object, cannot be what is normally called the subject.  It is in memory that the 2 Notions seem to combine to form an entirely new Notion, I am the Perceiver or the Thinker.

Now all Notions are more or less complex. Memory is therefore an ingredient essential to the Sense of Individuality. Individuality is the apparent combination of the changeless Self & a changeful Body. Ignorance is the identification of Body & Self &, as a corollary, the personification of the impersonal principle of Consciousness.

We remember that alone which has affected us.  What affects us is Pleasure & Pain.  The Memory of Pleasure & Pain gives rise to Desire & Aversion.  These 2 [Desire & Aversion] in action become Will. And Will in its widest Sense, makes us seek what Memory tells us has been found agreeable or necessary to Life & avoid what has been found disagreeable or hurtful to it.

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

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

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 101:

Sankara quotes:

The veiling effect only disappears with full experience of Reality, & the elimination of false knowledge leads to the end of suffering caused by that distraction.

There is no such thing as ignorance beyond the thinking mind. Thought itself is ignorance, the cause of the bondage of becoming. When thought is eliminated, everything else is eliminated. When thought increases everything else increases.

In the Silence is the highest Peace because wavering is the intellect’s unreal work; there the knowers of the Eternal, mighty-souled, enjoy unbroken happiness of partless Bliss, recognizing the Self as the Eternal.

There is no higher cause of joy than silence where no Mind-pictures dwell; it belongs to him who has understood the Self’s own being; who is full of the essence of the Bliss of the Self.

Through unwavering ecstasy is clearly understood the reality of the Eternal, fixed &` sure. This cannot be when other thoughts are confused with it, by the motions of the Mind.

Whose being neither intellect nor reason knows — this is the Eternal, That Thou Art.

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 37:

(5)  If you always flawlessly practice the certitude that the Body exists not, the Senses exist not, the beings exist not.  Ideas exist not, the Mind exists not, the Ego exists not, Thought exists not.  Its root, Ignorance, exists not.  In the firm certitude of the Supreme Brahman is practiced in faultlessly always.  The manifold Mind that differentiates will disappear like darkness before lhc Sun.

(6)  There is no Wakefulness, no Dream, no Deep Dreamless Sleep,  No “4^th State” to be sought.  Nothing of Multiplicity. nothing as a collection of separates or as an integrated coalescence, and no World of parts at all.  Attaining the certitude of the undivided Supreme that all ever is Brahman, and thereby correcting all the misconceptions of the Mind, abide as the exalted Supreme Brahman alone.

(7)  Whatever is seen as Illusion as apart on the Substratum of all, the Supreme Brahman, Is nothing but the Substratum, the Supreme Brahman itself, and not a trace apart.  Attaining such certitude, By worthy Inquiry in a process of Negation, and thereby changing all the misconception of the Mind, ever abide as the exalted Supreme Brahman alone.

Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi’s “Upadesa Saram” with 10 Meditation points by his disciple, Master Nome:

(12)  Mind & Prana are Consciousness combined with activity & are 2 branches rooted in Shakti.  Mind & Prana are combined with, connected to, the activity of Consciousness

1. Consciousness is innately unmoving, & being Absolute, is eternally so without any modifications ever.
2. If there is an motion, it is only the infinite Consciousness that appears as that which moves & its motion within itself.
3. Consciousness combined with the supposition of activity appears as the Mind & Prana. Such are only the activity of Consciousness
4. The supposition of the connection of activity with Consciousness depends on the supposition of a connection between Consciousness & the Mind & Prana.
5. The appearance of Mind & Prana are rooted in the same power. The power of the Mind & Prana is of the same root. This one root power, Shakti, is never apart from Shiva, of the nature of Absolute Consciousness.
6. Without Prana, there can be no Life of the Body, Senses, & such. Without the Mind that can be, there can be no Cognition, thoughts & such. Without Consciousness these cannot be, or be known. The root of their power, Existence, & the Knowledge of them is Consciousness.
7. The activity of Consciousness is perceived only by the activity of Consciousness. The existence of the Mind is conceived only in the Mind, & the Mind & Prana are perceived only by the Mind with Prana. Moreover, Consciousness is the only knower.
8. Consciousness is always undifferentiated. Spiritual instruction pertaining to any apparent difference is only for the purpose of revealing the Undifferentiated, pertaining to multiplicity to reveal the Non-Dual, pertaining to the unreal to reveal the Real, pertaining to the created to reveal the Uncreated, & pertaining to the branches to trace, discern &, & reveal the Root.
9. One who abides in the Source of is not misidentified with the branches. The nature of the one is solely Consciousness, which alone can abide as itself. Even while the branches are still aloft, that one abides as the inward indestructible Root & is thus fully Liberated while alive.
10. The Mind & Prana are known by their activity. The Self, Consciousness, is the power that shines as their activity, yet remains as their transcendent Knower. The Self is the Root of all the branches yet remains without branches & is rootless. The Self is never associated with anything else, yet all our ever in union with it.

(13)  Dissolving & utter Destruction of both forms of control. That which is dissolved becomes again, but that which is dead does not. 

1. To change the form of Ignorance, even stoppage thinking the thoughts composing it, without knowledge of the truth, is merely temporary dissolution.
2. True Knowledge completely destroys Ignorance, inclusive of its forms & very existence. When one knows Ignorance to be just Ignorance, it ceases to exist.
3. A change of the Mind’s state or mode is changeful. The cessation of the Mind itself, by True Knowledge, is forever.
4. A change of the Senses & their activities is temporary respite. Knowledge of the one source of Happiness is permanent freedom from attachment to the Senses. Destroyed by blissful Knowledge, Ignorance is not revive.
5. A change of state is temporary relief from the forms of the unreal. Knowledge of the Reality, self revealed in the comprehension of how unreal the unreal is, is complete destruction of the unreal forever. Destroyed by real knowledge, Ignorance does not revive.
6. A change of thought & even its stoppage, by means of Prana or Mind, may bring a temporary dissolution of the form of one’s identity. Knowledge of the Self completely destroys the misidentification, the tendency to misidentify, & the idea that is involved in such. Destroyed by Self-Knowledge, Ignorance does not revive.
7. Destruction is only of the unreal. That which is real cannot be destroyed at any time.

8  If believed to exist, the actually unreal, after dissolution seems to return. That which is destroyed by the Knowledge of Existence does not recur;  how can that which was never created be created again ?

9. A Mind in abeyance is only restrained. Absorption in Self-Knowledge is a Mind that has ceased. Outwardly & transiently they may appear similar, yet inwardly & lastingly they are entirely distinct.
10. Self-Inquiry aims at the Death of the Mind, in which its content & the very notion of an existing Mind are, with finality, abandoned & gone. Finality lies in the Absoluteness of the utterly Non-Dual Self.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Life, or individual existence, is the expression of Non-Duality. Life proceeds in terms of Desire & Aversion.  Desire & Aversion apply to the different modes of individual experience. The commonsense distinction between Mind & Matter is unreal. Desires appear at times to be Physical & at others Mental.

These, then, arc also the expressions of Non-Duality, for the ultimate object of every Desire is to become Desireless.  Aversion is simply the obverse of Desire & has the same target. This is the manner of looking at Pleasure & Pain. Meanwhile, it is evident that the search for the one [Pleasure] & the avoidance of the other [Pain] are the sole & complementary aims of individual existence at all levels.  Neither would be possible without Memory.

The Thinker is an object of Consciousness.  I can remember only what I have known.  I remember not only my thoughts.  1 remember also my having thought.  It follows that I, as the Thinker or Individual, am the object of Consciousness.  But as the knower of this & of all other objects, it follows that I am Consciousness itself.

Egoism & the Act of Remembering. Whenever the 2 It is the same thing whether these memories are Conscious, Unconscious, or Subconscious, whichever of the 2 last expressions is preferred. Whether the knowledge or the memory is correct or incorrect makes no difference. The principle of Consciousness gets identified with the Body, the false notion of my being the thinker springs up. That which claims to have been conscious of an event at which it was not present is the Ego, or the I-thought. Thus the Ego can claim only what has gone before & the experience so claimed is a remembrance.

As just now stated, the false notion of my being the thinker arises whenever there is identification of the impersonal principle of Consciousness & the Body. The effect of this identification is to divide Non-Dual Consciousness into the ostensible Duality of a conscious subject & its object.  Since the objects of Consciousness appear discontinuously; & since, moreover, the conscious subject, made objective in the form of the claiming I-thought, also appears discontinuously.

The Consciousness that illuminates them seems to be discontinuous too.  When Non-Dual Consciousness seems in this way to be conditioned by Time, it seems to assume the form of a faculty of remembering that gives cohesion to what would otherwise be a state of total flux, unimaginable & impossible because it could not be known by a knower who, by his having no continuity, must perforce change at every Perception.  He could not even know himself.

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

When you have been in Satsang, have you had an experience in which your mind suddenly turns around, or in which you see more deeply, as we are talking. That is what you are asking about. Your eyes are open, and you have been carrying on a conversation. Was there any difficulty in that revelation ?  It was rough on the mind since the revelation went contrary to existing ideas, but it is precisely when you knew yourself in a deeper way, contrary to ideas, that there was expe­rience. Obviously, whatever kind of instruction, teaching, thought, etc., that would be in conformity with your existing bound thoughts would not do that much good for you. It may be very popular with you, but it will not do you that much good. That which runs contrary to the mind’s conception does good. Real spiritual reasoning, in a profound sense, runs contrary to and uproots all the concepts of the mind. When it runs in compliance, or conformity, with the concepts of the mind, it is nothing more than self-validating delusion. That delu­sion is false and is actually totally unreasonable. It will not stand up to the light of inquiry. You have had this experience with your eyes open. Did you bring in any special method to do that ?  You are not a performer of action then.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 100:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 36:

(3)  Except for the Supreme Brahman, which is boundless Being, ever present Consciousness of the nature of a mass of unsurpassed Bliss, connectionless, without attachments.  Existing alone by Itself.  There is nothing such as the Body and others, ever. all is indeed. the undivided Supreme Brahman, and that Brahman, the subtle is indeed myself. by such pure conviction (bhava) of the Absolute, conquer the Mind.

(4)  Except for the Supreme Brahman, of the nature of the blemishless, partless, formless, taintless, peerless, attributeess, immaculate Self without any false projections, which is spread out as thc infinite and the gapless, there never is anything — ever.  All that exists is the undivided Supreme Brahman, and that Brahman. without Duality. is myself. by such conviction (bhava) of the Supreme Brahman, the One, conquer the Mind.

(6)  There is not a bit apart from the magnificent Supreme Brahman, the holy Supreme Lord, the Supreme Self, of a nature that is higher than the highest and completely, perfectly full, (If the nature of That which is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda), and the undecaying Brahman is myself indeed. by such silent conviction (bhava), conquer the Mind.

(13)  ‘The elements and Nature, their combination the World and all things are entirely of the nature of Brahman.  All the perishable worlds are entirely of the nature of Brahman.  The worlds which are not yet created are entirely of the nature of Brahman.  What appears as a difference is entirely of the nature of Brahman.  The myriad galaxies are entirely of the nature of Brahman.  Great Sage !  by the delusionless conviction (bhava) that I am that Supreme Brahman, conquer the Mind.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

That which dwells within all this, that through which Awareness itself becomes aware, that which exists in each thing as its individual nature, is the true “I”  that shines as pure Consciousness.

The indivisible Reality that dwells within is Consciousness itself.

The Truth of the Self shines as pure Consciousness underlying the Mind.  The fitting course is to discern it in the heart through Being–Consciousness & then to establish it firmly there through deep contemplation, so that the fetters of worldly bondage – the companions of lustful infatuation – disappear, being revealed as the false, & Liberation, the mark of the Real, shines forth.

Bitter worldly bondage arises through the degrading error of mistaking the Self, Being-Consciousness-Bliss, for the insentient body.  It can only be removed through the certainty of the experience of Self-Inquiry that is filled with the divine light of Consciousness.

Know that the perfectly pure Self will well up as a flood of deep Peace in the hearts of those who have come to know Reality as it truly is through Self-Inquiry.  What is required is to perform worship of that Self within a collected Mind, so that the Mind melts away to the power of the true Love that is free of guile.

Turning to the 0ne purified Consciousness within us, the Witness, one should gradually bring it to the fore and then become aware of the perfection of one’s True Nature.

Those who focus on the Self that is Consciousness, who have put away the outward, the imaginations of the Mind & senses, & selfish Personality, they are freed from the bonds and snares of the World, but not they who only meditate on what others have seen.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Duality is the seeming division of non-dual Consciousness into thinker & thought, or subject & object. The one [thinker & subject] being conscious of the other [thought & object].  Duality is only a figment.  When I am conscious of an object, that is, of a Notion or a Percept, that object alone is present.  When I am conscious of my perceiving, what alone presents itself to Consciousness is the Notion that “I perceive the object”.  Therefore the notion of my being the Perceiver also constitutes an object of Consciousness.  From this, a most important fact emerges: the so-called subject who thinks, & its apparent object, have no immediate relation.

That the notions of subject & object are separate thoughts may be seen from the following example, drawn from everyday Life. When we are absorbed in some activity, let us say in reading a book, we experience a steady flow of thoughts relating to its contents. The notion, “I am reading” does not occur while we are thus absorbed.  It occurs only when our attention wavers.

Even when we are not thus absorbed for any appreciable lapse of time, the subject who afterwards lays claim to the action was not present to Consciousness when the action was taking place.  The idea of our being the agent occurs to us as a separate thought, which is to say that it forms an entirely fresh object of Consciousness. And since, at the time of the occurrence, we were present as neither the Thinker, the Agent [actor], the Perceiver, nor the Enjoyer [includes Sufferer], no subsequent claim on our part could alter the position.

The cause of our claiming that which belongs to the Body is to be found in the erroneous habit of mis-identification. If the notions of subject & object are both the separate objects of Consciousness, neither term has any real significance. An object, in the absence of a subject, cannot be what is normally called an object.  The subject, in the absence of an object, cannot be what is normally called the subject.  It is in memory that the 2 Notions seem to combine to form an entirely new Notion, I am the Perceiver or the Thinker.

Now all Notions are more or less complex. Memory is therefore an ingredient essential to the Sense of Individuality. Individuality is the apparent combination of the changeless Self & a changeful Body. Ignorance is the identification of Body & Self &, as a corollary, the personification of the impersonal principle of Consciousness.

We remember that alone which has affected us.  What affects us is Pleasure & Pain.  The Memory of Pleasure & Pain gives rise to Desire & Aversion.  These 2 [Desire & Aversion] in action become Will. And Will in its widest Sense, makes us seek what Memory tells us has been found agreeable or necessary to Life & avoid what has been found disagreeable or hurtful to it.

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

Your nature is like pure Space, unmoving even when the instruments of body, speech, and mind move. Misidentify and you will become concerned with thinking, speaking, and doing as if they were the “I”.  Inquire. Who gets caught up with these ? The Silence is perpetual. It is your real Being. You are not the performer of actions. You are not the doer and not the speaker. Again, “Who actually gets caught up?” Are there 2 of you ?  Is there one that is the real Self and one that gets caught up ?  Thus, there are 2 aspects of the inquiry.

The first aspect, which is primary, is to clarify the dis­tinction between your actual Being, your Self, and the instruments of the body, speech, and mind. When the body moves, you do not move. When the body is still, you are not still. When speech is being used, you are not speaking. When thought is occurring, you are not thinking. You are never the actor, the agent, or the performer of actions, a speaker, or anything similar. To clarify the identity in Knowledge is this first aspect The second aspect referred to is to inquire, “Are there 2 of you, a real Self that is perpetually at Peace in Silence and another “self” that gets caught up? Whose delusion is it?” If you inquire like. this, it is ultimate Self-Inquiry.

The one, Absolute, Non-Dual Self alone exists Eternally.  The Self neither begins nor ends, neither expands nor reduces, has no phase or condition, & is ever just as it is. The Self alone is present always.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 99:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(41)  All is the Supreme Brahman: there is no doubt of this.  I am indeed am That : there is not a bit of doubt of this.  I say this in the name of the Supreme Lord of all the World.  What is said is the Truth. There is no doubt of this.  Worthy son !  Therefore. being aware, with great certitude, that all is ever Brahman alone, and I am That.  And thereby casting aside everything, abide as the pure Self alone.

(42)  All “appearances” (Individuals, etc.) that seem sentient (conscious), are but the Supreme Lord, which is Consciousness alone.  I am indeed the Lord which has nothing in the least to learn, I am indeed that Lord which has nothing apart.  By attaining the undivided Realization through such practicable bhava (conviction), and being rid of the Bondage of Birth-and-Death cycle, abide as the “Apex”, your Self alone, not different from the Supreme Lord.

(43)  Thus have I described the Abidance in the undivided Self, as expounded by our Lord.  Son !  If this is heard just once or read without blemish as now told. the undecaying State of Liberation will result.  Is there any doubt that those who hear this or read this every day will attain the bondagelcss Supreme Liberation ?

(44)  Only those who deeply inquire into and contemplate upon the nature of the perfectly full, undivided Supreme Lord as the Substratum of all the numerous Names & Forms of things will attain taintless, undivided Abidance in the: Self and cross thc hard-to-cross Ocean of Birth & Death (re-incarnation).  None else can ever cross this Ocean by any other action, all being tainted (by duality).

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Clinging to the Consciousness “I” & thereby acquiring a greater & greater intensity of concentration upon it, is diving deep within.  Instead of thus diving within, many, thinking that they engaged in Self-Inquiry, sit down for hours together simply repealing mentally or vocally. “Who am I ?”  or  “Whence am I ?”  There are others again who, when they sit for Self-Inquiry, face their thoughts & endlessly repeat mentally the following; questions taught by Sri Bhagavan: “To whom has this thought come ?  To me; “Who am I ?”  Or sometimes even wait for the next thought to come up so that they can fling these questions at it ! Even this is futile.

We should not remain watching, “What is the next thought ?”  Merely to keep on questioning in this manner is not Self-Attention.

By saying, “This is the direct path for all, Sri Bhagavan points out that anyone, however weak his mind may be, can acquire, through this Path, the true strength of Mind which is required to Abide in one’s Source.  Therefore, taking to Self-Attention, which is the real introversion, is by itself far better than giving any other target to the Mind.

If our attention is directed only towards ourselves, our knowledge of our existence alone is nourished, & since the Mind is not attended to, it is deprived of its strength.

When, through the aforesaid Self-Attention, we are more & more firmly fixed in our Existence–Consciousness, the tendencies will be destroyed because there is no one to

The feeling I am is the experience common to one & all.

The pure Existence-Consciousness “I am” is not a thought; this Consciousness is our nature. “I am a man” is not our pure Consciousness, it is only our thought.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

The “I-thought”, together with its concomitant, Memory, needs to be studied.  Mental activity is a notion arising from the Memory of distinct thoughts. Each thought as such constitutes an object of Consciousness,  of objective or individual experience in reference to mental activity. Thoughts are so called from the standpoint of one who sporadically identifies himself with his Body. His own & other bodies appear as external to what he takes to be himself, while thoughts seem to occur within.  But for one who has understood that the Body & its World are merely Notions pertaining to his individual experience, there is neither an inner nor an outer World.

The whole objective domain will appear to be mental.  If it has been clearly understood that the commonsense distinction between Matter & Mind, or Waking & Dreaming, is an illusion, then the truth of this statement will be readily grasped.  But if all its implications have not been fully accepted, we are likely to oscillate continually between identification with the Body as such (“I am of medium height”) & identification with thoughts as such (“I am clever”).

We view thoughts as subtle entities until we know by reasoning & accepted the implications of the fact that all the objects of Consciousness, whether they appear as external or internal, are so many aspects of a single objective plane. It is pointless to make any distinction between Mental & Sensory, or Physical, activity.

What is called a thought is the Consciousness of something: & this Consciousness we personify as I who think.  But for all that, we continue to use the word “thought” for the sake of simplicity, so long as we are examining human experience as such. The “thinker” is supposed to think the thoughts of which he is conscious.  But no one “thinks”.

This Truth will become apparent from examination of the Duality of subject & object.  Note that the expressions, “I think” & “I am thinking” both mean I am conscious of something objective & not “I am the thinker”. Whereas the objects of Consciousness are many & various, the single Consciousness in which they appear remains unmodified.  “I” am therefore a principle transcending all that is objective to me.  “I” cannot be the thinker, for the thinker as such is the object of Consciousness & not the Self.  Otherwise I could not remember having thought.

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

The Maharshi has said that the Self, which is its own Realization, is Being. It is not an occurrence, but it is Being. The Self is Consciousness, itself Even now, Consciousness is not an event. It is not something occurring to you. Even now, your own Existence is not occurring to you. It is not occurring slowly, rap­idly, in intervals, or even continually. It is not something occur­ring. Rather, it is something that is.

The quest to know one’s Self is, simultaneously, the quest to know ultimate Reality. Reality is That which is. That which is your Existence, the real Self, is That which is. There are not two of you, a self that you supposedly are, and a self that will hap­pen to you, as if you would acquire or attain it. The Maharshi has made this abundantly clear when he says, “There are not 2 selves, one to realize another.”  Every effort should be made, and one should persevere with utmost intensity in such a way to know the Self, but keep in mind that it is Self-Knowledge, the Self knowing itself, and not an objective occurrence.

How are you to know the Self ?  You are to know the Self without any intermediary. The same things that would act as intermediaries should be set aside as just so many misidentifi­cations, for they are not your real Self.  As you inquire, set aside, as not having anything to do with a definition of your Self, all that occurs in the World, and anything perceived by your senses, inclusive of the body. Such is not your identity, and any bodily

Whatever your Knowledge is of the Self that is true even now, such as the fact of your own existence, is not through thought. You do not require thought to know that you exist. Similarly, the Realization of the Self is not thought dependent. The inquiry, likewise, is not thought-dependent.  Of course, one may commence meditation by thinking, “I”, yet as soon as the Self-Inquiry turns further inward, the experience is that of Consciousness abiding quite free of any thought, even the thought of “I.”

If you try to search for the Self, regarding it as something objective, the intention is good, but the results will not be vast enough, deep enough, or enduring, for it is the nature of every objective occurrence to come and go, to have a rise and a set, whether it be in thought or through the senses. Appearance becomes disappearance. Something gained is also lost. If it: is born, it perishes. Seek to know your Self in a way that is nonobjective.

In seeking to know yourself in That, by That, which is non­objective, you arrive at that which is very vast and exceedingly deep. It is your own nature. No thought can compare to this, let alone anything sensed through the body. That which is non­objective is illimitable. It has no beginning or end or interrup­tion. It undergoes no change, and it has no condition. By inquiring to know your Self, setting aside everything that is objective, you easily come to something that is detached from all, that is perfect, and that is all peace in itself: By finding That which is non-objective, your own true Self, you find yourself abiding in That which is Bliss, itself—the unconditional, unlimited, real joy of the Self—the very same that was intuited in every desire for Happiness, the very same that motivates the drive for Liberation and the seeking of Self-Realization. That perfect, transcended Bliss is your own Being. You should have no doubt about this,

The Maharshi revealed Truth by exquisite instruction and by example. In his Silence, the instruction and example were identical and simultaneous.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 98

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(37)  The dualistic mode of “I am the Body” & such.  The Witness-mode that I am the Witness of all,  The undivided mode that I am the Absolute – rejecting 2 of these 3 modes. and attaining the differenceless Knowledge of the Supreme Brahman by the divisionless, undivided, Supreme mode, and being rid of all the original Bondage of the misery of Worldly existence, ever abide in the Self.

(39)  The gross Body and others are all of the nature of Brahman, whatever is seen as Dual is of the nature of Brahman.  Space & Time are all of the nature of Brahman.  Whatever things that are seen are all of the nature of Brahman.  l am the root Cause, the Supreme Brahman.  Setting aside everything by such settled Knowledge, abide as the true, undivided Self, the true Abode, which is not different from the Supreme Brahman.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

You can only put your attention on 1 thing at a time.  While it is on the Mind or the Body, it cannot be on the Self.  Conversely, if you put attention on the Self & become absorbed in it, there will be no awareness of the Mind & Body.

You have to forcibly drag your wandering attention back to the Self each time it shows an interest in going anywhere else.

While the Search was on, that which was being sore sought was, in Reality, that through which the seeing was taking place.  You were looking for an Object that finally turned out to be the Subject that was doing the seeing.

Even the question, ‘”To whom has this thought come ?  To me,” quote is based on Ignorance of the Truth.  Why ?  Because it is verbalizing a state of Ignorance; it is perpetuating an erroneous assumption that there is a person who is having troublesome thoughts.  You are the Self, not some make- believe person who is having thoughts.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

A doubt may arise whether the Self may properly be called Changeless, even though it does not change as the Body changes.  But change is a characteristic of Matter. The Self, since it transcends the Body, transcends change, including Birth & Death.  Our notion of individual existence is born of the identification of Self & Body. This identification is mistaken, because the Changeless Self & a changeful Body cannot be identical.

Typical expressions of identification are, “I am of medium height.” This portrait is of “me as a child”; “I am hungry”,  “I injured my leg”, “my Body is lean”, & “I lost myself”.  This supposed identity of incompatibles is called a human being. Plain men use the pronoun, “I”, indifferently to express 3 distinct levels of Identification.  First is identification with the Body & the bodily Senses.  For example, “l am of medium height” & “I hear”.

Second, there is identification with thoughts & the affections. For example, “I think” or “I imagine”, & “I am happy” or “I am (emotionally) moved.

Third, there is identification with the state of un-consciousness which is supposed to exist in the absence of thought. For example, “I was unconscious” or “I slept soundly”. The expression, “I was unconscious”, is a contradiction in terms.  It means “I”, the thinker, had no thoughts.  But I cannot be a thinker when I have no thoughts.  When thought is absent, I remain in Being, although the consciousness of an individual existence has vanished with the cessation of mental activity. Thus the expressions, “I was unconscious”, or “I will be unconscious”, imply that “I” continued, or will continue, to exist without individuality.

Every human Life proves the foregoing fact, although it is not recognized.  If, for example, there were any fear lest the loss of individual consciousness spelt annihilation, no one who identified himself with his Body would dare to fall asleep. As human beings, we seem to have a personal identity that is expressed by the pronoun, “I”.  This Ego causes the real Self to appear as identical with the Body, the Senses, or the Mind.  Such an identification is wholly illogical & unreal. The personal pronoun “I”, whatever Sense we may give it, denotes always the immutable Self, that single True “I”.

Consciousness is that n which the totality of objective experience seems to occur. I think means “I am conscious of thoughts”.  “I see or hear” means I am conscious of Visual or Auditory Perceptions ; & “I am happy” means l am conscious of a feeling of Happiness.

The terms “thinker’, thinking, & thought” include all the different aspects of mental activity as such. That is to say, Reasoning & Intellection, Imagination, Feeling, Volition, & Perception.  Perception denotes the mental action of knowing external things through the medium of Sense presentations.  To this list must be added one other, namely, Egoism or the habit of Body-identification, called the “I-thought”.

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

The Upanishad says, “The unknown Knower of all that is known.” It is non– objective, thus unknown, for it is something that cannot be thought of.  The entire World is known by the Senses, but all the Senses are, in turn, known, too [by Sense-Thoughts about them].  You know if there is Seeing or if there is Hearing, just as you know if there is something Seen or something Heard [Perceptual Thoughts of objects].  Furthermore, all that occurs for the Mind. The Mind’s cognition & thoughts, in whatever form they appear, do not illumine themselves & are, in themselves, inert.  Something else knows them.  It is not that one thought knows another.  None of these thoughts have a knowing principle.

There is only one Knower, but when you look at him, he is unknown in the sense that he cannot be objectified.  The Individuality of that Knower should be examined very closely.  In Truth, there is just one Knower, & not a knower in you, a knower in him, & a knower in her.  If we think of it in terms of an Individual knower, such is the Knower, or Consciousness combined with some idea, with some connection with an aspect of the Mind.  Regard all that is objective as not who you are.  Even the notion of  “I” & whatever seems to be apart from the undifferentiated Absolute, should be relinquished as not being the Self.

In knowing the Self, it is essential that not only your Identity be known as being just Consciousness, but that you understand Reality to be that, as well.  If you leave the sense of Reality mixed up with something objective, it necessarily implies your stand as a particular experiencer.  If you recognize that the World is the known &  “I”  am the knower, but you still regard the World as existing in some form, such posits some “experiencer” of the World.  That experiencer is an embodied, sensing entity.  Even if he be regarded as disembodied, he is still a sensing entity.  The truth is that the Self is not a sensing entity.  The notion of a sensing entity & the Senses themselves are equally objective as the things known. Therefore, if you are thorough in your Inquiry, the sense of Identity, its Happiness, & Reality will return completely to their rightful place.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

“think, know, enjoy, perceive” by the Senses, & “act”, & their opposites.

Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple 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/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(29)  Just as, if the conditioning of the Pot and the Pitcher are removed, the Pot space and the Pitcher space are one,, if the conditioning of Ignorance and such are removed.  The pure. Individual being & Supreme are one.  Realizing by the certitude of the Discernment the Innate Identity of the Supreme and the Individual without any sense of Duality, and becoming thereby of the nature of the dense Undivided Infinite, abide changelessly in the Self.

(30)  If after inquiry, the inapplicable meanings of words are removed from the statement “He I am”, the meaning to be understood is the Innate Identity.  Likewise in the statement “Tat Tvam Asi” (“That You Are”), the meaning to be understood, after removal of the inapplicable meanings of words, is the Innate Identity.  Understanding this, relinquish all the mental differences and abide changelessly in the Self.

(31)  Negating all the illusory conditionings of the Individual and the Supreme by blemishless Inquiry, and attaining the Knowledge of the fearless, undivided meaning that the nature of Brahman, indicated by the word “That”, is indeed “I”, denoted by the “You”, and being rid of all the hard-to-remove Bondage of Worldly existence, abide changelessly in the Self.

(32)  There is not the least of the differences such as the World, the Supreme, you and “I”. I am not in any way different from Brahman.  Brahman is nothing different from me. all that has been spoken of is the Undivided Supreme Brahman. I am that perfectly full Brahman.  Casting aside everything by such undivided Knowledge of the  Supreme, ever abide in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

If you remain in the state of Consciousness, there will be nothing apart from it. No problems. no misery, no questions.

Ignorance is ignorance of the Self, & to remove it Self-Consciousness is required. When you come to an awareness of the Self, ignorance vanishes.  If you don’t lose contact with the Self, ignorance can never arise.

Bhagavan spoke about turning inwards to face the Self.  That is all that is needed.  If we look outwards, we become entangled with objects & we lose Consciousness of the Self shining within us.  But when, by repeated practice, we gain the strength to keep our focus on the Self within, we become one with it in the Darkness of Self – Ignorance vanishes.

Tayumanuvar, a Tamil saint whom Bhagavan often quoted, wrote in one of his poems:

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

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Non-Duality abides as the Substratum & the Reality of Dualistic experience.  This is so even though we cannot as individuals be aware of its Existence when our attention is turned outwards. Like Space, which would be inconceivable apart from the Objects it is supposed to pervade.  Time also cannot be more than a Notion.  It is never directly experienced.  We never experience a Present Time.  The present time is nothing more than our way of qualifying a select group of thoughts which has just now been Present to Consciousness.

Behind our Notion of a Present time, however, is the immediate apprehension of the principle of Consciousness, which is ever present as the Self.  This is not in terms of succession, but as the Present Eternity. And this Immediate Knowledge finds expression in our use of the pronoun, “I”.  This is Egoism.

The pronoun, “I” , Ego, even when supposedly standing for individual Consciousness, stands always for Non-Duality. If we would actualize this Truth, we must abstract Ego from our notion of Consciousness.  In the Existence of Non-Duality, it is not a Presence we can know as we know Objects, since it is the real Self.  That is to say, the Self is the Ultimate Subject.

Non-Duality, though unknowable, is of all things the “best known”, for it is ever experienced as the Self.  That is personal, not as we unwittingly do when we fall asleep & between 2 thoughts, but by the Remembrance in our workaday Life.  Of the main principles of Advaita, personal guidance from one who has fully realized Non-Duality is essential.  No book can take its place.

A practical definition of Individuality is the consciousness of a separate, corporeal existence; & of Personality, the sum of physical & mental traits characterizing that individual existence. Now in the being conscious of something, there is a distinction between Consciousness & the object of Consciousness.  We are conscious of our individual existence & therefore we transcend it. That which transcends individual existence is the changeless, impersonal Self.

Notwithstanding, we identify the Self with the Body. The outcome of this mistaken attachment is the Notion of a personal identity, to which we give indirect expression through the possessive & direct expression through the personal & reflexive pronouns [I, me, mine].

The Body continually changes, but we who claim it as our own are changeless, otherwise we could not say, “this portrait is of me as a child.”  Yet we ignore the evidence & become identified with each successive bodily state of which we are conscious. This ignorance causes us to personify the immutable Self as our self, that is to say, as I who “think, know, enjoy, perceive” by the Senses, & “act”, & their opposites.

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

Since ancient times, it is recommended that one go on listening, reflecting, deeply and profoundly meditating, and experi­ence absorption, until the Truth is realized without an alternative.

A book like “Who am I ?”, “Forty Verses on Reality”, by Ramana Maharshi or “Atmabodha, Self-Knowledge”, by Shankara consist of only a few verses.  Even if you were a slow reader, it does not take very long to go through one of them. Yet, you should listen to such, or read such to yourself; time & time again, each time understanding more & more deeply, until you, yourself abide as the Infinite. Then, what remains is the Self in perpetual fascination, as the Maharshi says, with the Self.

What else is detachment but utter clarity regarding the abiding source of Happiness?

Those simple questions, “Where is Happiness ?  What is Real ?  Who am I ?” tend to revolve again & again, each time deeper in the seeker’s mind, until he has arrived at a conclusive Realization that will not waver in the least.  In that lies Liberation.

Among those who are worldly-minded, who do not turn their minds inward, everyone is apart from God.  Among those who are spiritually inclined, in one way or another, everyone is a part of God.  For those who inquire to know themselves, there are no parts—just God.  However, it is not necessary to convince others, because either they are God already & you need not convince God, or they do not exist apart from God.  In your practice, your aim should not be to convince others but to have inner experience. Moreover, your own blissful experience becomes convincing enough to those who have ears to hear.

If the Consciousness is obscured by a Mind that is cloudy, the Mind should he made pure, it is said. What is meant by a pure Mind is an introverted Mind, which is a Mind that relinquishes its own adherence to its own self-conjured ideas. Such is purity of Mind. With that pure Mind, you realize pure Consciousness. That is, the Mind is absorbed.

Quieting the Mind is not the end in itself.  You can quiet the Mind by any number of means.  Here, it is generally recommended that the desire for Liberation, itself; & the attempt to inquire, “Who am I ?” take care of quieting the Mind.  If one uses some other method to quiet the Mind, it brings him to the point at which he can make that inquiry to know who he is.

If there is a feeling of bondage, the instruction is given as to how to be free or to be Liberated. Following that instruction, finding your own nature, you discover that it is Freedom itself, Liberation itself.  In other words, you discover that your True Nature has never really been bound.

Non-Dual experience is aligned with Self-Knowledge, & may be felt by the aspirant as greater Freedom, greater Happiness, greater Peace.  Such do not come to you.  Indeed, it is always already there, but illusion or ignorance needs to be destroyed in order that the real Knowledge, the Reality, itself, shines.  Similarly, the state of Self-Realization does not come to anyone.  In Self-Realization, there is just the Self, and no individual.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 96:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(25)  The World, Individuals, and the Supreme. not a trace of which existed before the projections of the Mind arose, and not a trace of which will exist after those projections of the Mind subside, and which seem to have a gross existence, though appearing in between due to the projections of the Mind, when thoroughly inquired into, are realized to not exist at all.  Thus negate all else, and abide changelessly in the Self.

(26)  There is no Mind and no thought of the World or Individuals or others in Deep Dreamless Sleep.  In Dream, there is a “mind” and extensive thoughts of the World and others.  By this comparison and contrast, upon even a little Inquiry, there is not a trace of this World or Individuals and others, which are all merely of the inner faculties.  Thus negating all such thoughts, abide changelessly in the Self.

(27)  There is no Mind, no distortion of Mind, no delusion that the Mind is the cause.  No Waking State, no Dream, no Deep Dreamless Sleep, no name, no form, no “me”, no “you”.  Nothing else ever – never anything at all.  Negating all differences by Inquiry and abiding in the nature of the undivided Absolute with nothing separate, abide changelessly in the Self.

(28)  Like the evident truth the Snake [imagined in a Rope] and other superimpositions, when inquired into, |are nothing in the least different from due natural substratum of the Rope.  There is nothing of illusory superimposition except the pure Substratum itself which is the Self.  By the process of such Negation and blemishless Discernment, be established as the nature of the great undivided Supreme. abide changelessly in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

When we mistake that which is impermanent for that which is enduring, it only serves to emphasize the disharmony within our hearts. The true temperament is one that cleaves ton the indestructible Self dwelling at the heart of our very Existence as the immovable Reality.

Unless the mind subsides into the heart, whose nature is consciousness, and experiences the deep peace of union with it, the mind, through separation from it, will fall into the trap of the sense organs, be whirled about in the world of the senses, and become scattered.

Those who crave a worldly life of pomp and ostentation, relying on the fleeting impressions of the sense organs, will remain slaves to the obscuring desires of the flesh, and give scant regard to the eternal life of living as the supreme.

Those who, instead of enjoying the bliss of the Heart — the form of Consciousness — embrace and find pleasure in the objects of sense, will wander from birth to death and death to birth, alternating in that deluded consciousness between the states of  membering and forgetting.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

“Past thought” really means I am at Present conscious of the kind of thought called a Memory (or a recollection).  “I will think” really means I am at Present conscious of the kind of thought called an Expectation (or a future intention or a prediction).  “I think” really means I am at Present conscious of the kind of thought called an Actuality or a Present occurrence.

That the absence of objective experience in connection with the use of “thought” experience cannot be thought or spoken of as a Present occurrence. This is obvious. In the 1^st place, there is no occurrence; & in the 2^nd, there is no individual to speak or to think.  The seeming Duality of a conscious subject & its object arises only when objective experience arises.

“I slept” (in Deep Dreamless Sleep) or “I was unconscious” really means I am at Present conscious of a Memory that relates to the absence of thought. But it is not exactly the absence as such of thought that is remembered.  Sleep & unconsciousness are Notions based on the Memory of conditions that preceded & followed the cessation of individual experience.

This comes from the standpoint of the plain man who thinks of Sleep as occurring in Time. That is to say, as having a beginning & an end, thus making it a part of Waking experience.  Whereas Deep Dreamless Sleep from its own standpoint cannot be said to occur at all.  Profound Deep Dreamless Sleep in itself is non-temporal & neither an Active nor a Passive state.  Duration, Activity, & Passivity pertain exclusively to the objective realm which in Deep Dreamless Sleep is non-existent.

But some Positive state, corresponding to what is Negatively called the absence of thought, does undoubtedly exist.  That is called it a [mental] State.  It is not a State in the common acceptation of the word, for States begin & end, but this is non-temporal.  In it [Deep Dreamless Sleep] we are merged in Non-Duality, ready as it were to become, or rather to seem to become.  That is the conscious subject, when objects are experienced, or seem to be experienced.

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

The Maharshi revealed Truth by exquisite instruction & by example.  In his Silence, the instruction & example were identical & simultaneous.  In that Silence, transcendent Abidance in the Unborn, the Uncreate, Reality without even a trace of delusion — the perfect example of how to be & also the instruction itself — in that Silence.  “The doubts of the disciples were all quelled & subsided.”

The Teaching is the Truth.  The example is truthfulness. The teaching is highest Bliss. The example is the perfect Bliss & undisturbed Peace.  The Truth is Self-Knowledge.  The example is steady Abidance in that Knowledge.  In the Silence, the example & the Teaching were the same.

He said that the responsibility of the Guru — himself — is only to reveal his own Existence.  How true that is !  How is it revealed ?  It is Self-Knowledge. What is the Existence revealed ?  It is one’s own Existence, which has no Individuality, is not divided, & is not a multiplicity of beings.  It is just One, interminable, Infinite, real Being.  So, inquire & know your Self.

In Self-inquiry, there is a negation of what is not the Self, just to reveal the Self.  It is, in Truth, a negation of what is unreal, in order to reveal Reality.  The negation, itself is not a particular practice.  It is just a way of describing what happens in the Inquiry.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 95:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(21)  Sage of intense spiritual practice !  Casting aside all ideas of difference by the differenceless Knowledge of the Supreme.  The Knowledge that all appearances of superimposition arise in me.  Who am eternal Knowledge, and therefore indeed, all “I”, the perfectly full Knowledge, and that “I”, the expanse of Knowledge, am Brahman. Abide changelessly in the Self.

(22)  Like the truth of a Mirage seen superimposed on the hot ground, being ultimately only the ground itself , whatever is seen as a superimposition on the Self, the Substratum, is only the Self, and differenceless “I am Brahman”.  Casting aside all ideas of difference by such differenceless Knowledge of the Supreme. abide changelessly in the Self.

(23)  Like the “truth” that all that is seen in me is a Dream. is nothing apart from me.  all that is seen in me during the Waking State is never anything apart from me.  Casting aside all ideas of difference by the differenceless Knowledge that “I” with nothing apart am Brahman, and by the differenceless Knowledge of the Supreme with nothing apart. abide changelessly in the Self.

(24)  If the World and such really exist, they should be changelessly present in Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Since all these do not exit in Deep Dreamless Sleep, all these are dream-stuff. illusion. I who remain unchanged am Brahman.  Casting aside all ideas of difference, by the pure differenceless Knowledge of the Supreme, abide changelessly in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Many are those who take qualified experiences of taste, light, sound and so on to be the final attainment of Self-knowledge and because they have had these experiences they think that they have attained liberation and they become more and more entangled in attention to second and third persons, thus losing their foothold on Self-attention. Such aspirants are called “those fallen from yoga.” This is similar to a man bound for NYC getting down from the train at some intermediate station, thinking “Verily, this is NYC”, being deluded by its attractive grandeur !

A sincere aspirant should arrange his work in such a way that he will spend only a portion of his time and energy for maintaining the body, so that he can utilize the remaining time and energy in striving to earn the great profit of Self-knowledge.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

It follows that in thinking of Past & Future occurrences, we do so only with reference to a Present time. But without a subsistent Past & Future. we could not form any notion of the Present. There cannot indeed be a Present, since there is neither a Past nor a Future time. Consciousness alone subsists & Consciousness alone is Ever-Present.

From a standpoint that is still in Duality, thought appears as the principle of Consciousness objectified,  But in order that Consciousness may seem to be objectified, an independent agent is needed: & nothing can exist independently of Consciousness.

Thought is the apparent objectification of Consciousness.  Let me add, moreover, that each thought as such has an object & that the 2 are inseparable.  Now time, or the notion of succession, is one such object. Time too is Consciousness objectified.

We measure the passage of time by the observation of movements in natural objects like the Sun.  Observation implies the remembrance of successive Sensory Perceptions.  Were it not for these memories, our Notion of Time, if we could ever have acquired it, would fade into the experience of Pure Being, as it does whenever mental activity ceases.

The absence of mental activity cannot properly be called a State [of mind], since it transcends Time.  If we wish to understand what it is, we must abstract every idea of duration from our Mind.  This is not impossible, for a thought as such is always at one with its Object.  If we make timelessness the object of thought, all that is objective drops away & we realize Timelessness as pure, changeless, Being.

There remains the question as to why the principle of Consciousness, which is immutable & impersonal, should come to appear as the duality of a conscious subject & its object.  As to the situating of experience in Time, when we are thinking of a specific object, nothing else is present to Consciousness & there is no idea then of the object’s location.  A separate thought, or series of thoughts, is required in order to situate that one object in relation to others.  These determinative [location] thoughts follow almost invariably.

Likewise, just as one group of Sensations going to form the Notion of an Object is followed habitually by another, which situates the Object in Space, so is this, & any other kind of experience, followed habitually by one which situates it in Time.  That is to say, it brings the experience into relation with the succession of thoughts in general. The group of thoughts so situated is then considered to be a present occurrence, though it is already Past. It is considered to be a Past occurrence only when new thoughts arise.

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

The Maharshi has said that the Self, which is its own Realization, is Being. It is not an occurrence, but it is Being. The Self is Consciousness, itself.  Even now, Consciousness is not an event.  It is not something occurring to you.  Even now, your own Existence is not occurring to you.  It is not occurring slowly, rapidly, in intervals, or even continually.  It is not something occurring.  Rather, it is something that is [a timeless, from Past Eternity to Forever, always, everywhere, without anything else, solid Reality].

The Quest to know one’s Self is, simultaneously, the Quest to know ultimate Reality.  Reality is That which is.  That which is your Existence, the real Self, is That which is.  There are not 2 of you, a “self” that you supposedly are, & a Self that will happen to you, as if you would acquire or attain it.  The Maharshi has made this abundantly clear when he says, ‘There are not 2 selves, one to realize another.”

Every effort should be made, & one should persevere with utmost intensity in such a way to know the Self, but keep in Mind that it is Self-Knowledge, the Self knowing itself, & not an objective occurrence.

How are you to know the Self ?  You are to know the Self without any intermediary.  The same things that would act as intermediaries should be set aside as just so many misidentifications, for they are not your real Self.  As you inquire, set aside, as not having anything to do with a definition of your Self, all that occurs in the World, & anything perceived by your Senses, inclusive of the Body.  Such is not your identity, & any bodily state or Sense experience is unrelated to the Realization if the Self, or Knowledge of the Self.

Thought should be set aside. You do not know the Self through thought. Whatever your Knowledge is of the Self that if true we even now, such as the fact of your own Existence, is not through thought. You do not require thought to know that you exist.

Similarly, the Realization of the Self is not thought–dependent.  Inquiry, likewise, is not thought–dependent. Of course, one may commence meditation by thinking, “Who am I ?”  Yet, as soon as the Inquiry turns further inward, the experience is that of Consciousness abiding quite free of any thought, even the thought of “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/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 94:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(13)  There are none of the delusions of the Mind such as the extensive variety of sins and duties, the plethora of prescriptions and proscriptions.  The worship with attributes, devotion, the knowledge of attributes, the real and the unreal.  Casting aside everything with your inner steadfastness in the certitude that all is the divisionless Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(14)  Casting aside even the conviction that the “I” adopts: that all the World is completely non-existent, and only the motionless Supreme is Existence.  That all is totally non-existent and only the Self is perpetually Existence, that the Self indeed is Brahman and Brahman without a 2^nd  is the Self, abide changelessly in the Self.

(19)  Negating all variety of conditionings such as the infatuated Mind, the Intellect, the Ego, the inner faculties, Life, Body, organs, senses. eyes. illusion. the difference-ridden Individual being, the Supreme, and the World,  further casting aside all the mental projections arising therefrom, and understanding well the identity of the natural oneness of the word “That” with the word “I”, abide changelessly in the Self.

(20)  Realizing with certitude that whatever is seen as a superimposition on the Self ls not apart from the Self. that the Self is that which is the undivided Supreme Brahman.  And it is the undivided Supreme Brahman that is the Self. that it is Brahman that is the Self, that “I” am.  And casting aside all that is apart from the Self,  abide changelessly in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The more we attend to thoughts pertaining to the second and third persons, the more they will increase.

There are two kinds of impediments which act as obstacles for the mind to achieve Self-abidance, and hence two kinds of strength of mind are essential for overcoming them. The first strength is that which is required to prevent the mind from branching out into innumerable thoughts through the force of tendencies towards the sense-objects. The second strength is that which is required to direct the mind (the power of attention) towards the first person or Self, that is, the strength actually to attend to Self.

The nature of the mind is to attend always to things other than itself, that is, to know only second and third persons. If the mind in this way attends to a thing, it means that it is clinging (attaching itself) to that thing. Attention itself is attachment !

When the power of attention of the mind is directed more and more towards second and third person objects, both the strength to attend to those objects and the ignorance — the five sense–knowledges in the form of thoughts about them — will grow more and more.

The mind which attends to Self is no more the mind; it is the consciousness aspect of Self !  Likewise, so long as it attends to the second and third persons (the world), it is not the consciousness aspect of Self; it is the mind.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

These several Perceptions take time. That is to say, they are successive.  Space is therefore inseparably linked to Time, & Time to the Memory of successive Perceptions, granting also the real existence of a retentive faculty. Many thinkers  believe that the concept of Time cannot be fully accounted for, unless we distinguish between perceptual, or subjective, Time, which is confined to the perpetually shifting “Now” of the Present, & conceptual or objective Time. This includes all periods of Time & in which events we call Past, Present & Future can be mutually & fixedly related.

No clear distinction can be drawn between Perceptual & Conceptual time, for the one cannot be postulated without the other. Nevertheless, if we consider the “Now” of the Present entirely by itself, just as it occurs in experience, Time need not be postulated at all. And if we closely examine our ideas of Past, Present & Future, they are found to be “gratuitous” [unnecessaey], & so again we cannot postulate Time.

Deep Dreamless Sleep is a state of Un-conditioned Being, when viewed from its own standpoint & in Reality. We say, nevertheless, that we slept for so many hours, just as we describe as brief the Interval between 2 thoughts.  In both cases, we attribute an Existence in Time to the Unconditioned Self.  But if we carefully consider the actual experience, we shall find that duration has no part in either Interval. We experience duration only in [mental] States characterized by the succession of thoughts.

Time is therefore the object of Consciousness.  Time, in other words, has no existence unless we are “thinking” of it.  Our concept of Time is based on the ideas of Past, Present, & Future.  Now this division of Time has no real meaning. The thought of a Past or a Future event occurs always as the Present object of Consciousness.  The event we supposedly recall or expect must have been, or will be, a Present experience. Strictly speaking, moreover, a Past event as such has vanished [gone] once & for all; a Future event as such is wholly inexistent [not yet to be].

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

All that is said of the Truth — that it is the Unborn, the Uncreated, the Unembodied — pertains to that real Self.  If these descriptions were about another, it would do you no good for Self-Realization. They are all about the Self, the very Being of you. That is why those spiritual descriptions & the sayings expressing the Teachings have been preserved for ages & ages. They are all about You, who you really are. That is why you can have Self-Realization. If they were about another, a different kind of Self, there would be no Realization for you, & consequent­ly, no hope of Peace or Bliss or Liberation. But they are about You, who you really are.

See the rise & fall of the “I” & inquire to see if this “I” is existing at all. See the various mis-identifications built upon that “I”.  See these mis-identifications as mis-identifications & not as true. Thereby, you climb directly out of Bondage through Knowledge. Seeing a mis-identification as such, you are no longer identified with it.  Seeing Ignorance as Ignorance is its destruction.

If you are caught in Attachment & your Mind is becom­ing entangled in Delusion, see it as the conjuring of your own Mind.  Examine to see what thoughts are composing this & upon what Identity have you been thinking these thoughts.  The thoughts have a basis, which is some kind of Identity.  “Go back the way you came” [a well-known Maharshi instruction, intended on the deepest level] & thus set yourself free. Go on making this Inquiry until your freedom is complete & firm, without wavering.

[in response to a questioner comparing  Self-Inquiry to comparable scriptural teachings]

To contrast or compare can be very useful. Make sure that identity becomes established by the actual inquiry, “Who am I ?” for the Self is singular without a 2^nd.  We con­trast the Self with whatever is regarded as the “I” in order to assist with Discrimination, so that the ability to see with the Eye of Wisdom is there. Once one is firmly headed in the right direc­tion, he simply inquires, “Who am I ?”  The “I” is only one. [In other words the true “I” is the one referenced in Self-Inquiry.]

In highest Truth, there is not a right “I”  &  a wrong “I” –  a true “I”  &  a false “I”.  There is just one “I”. If you have come to the conclusion already mentioned, or if there is a question of difficulty, & you feel that you are taking your stand with the wrong  “I”  or you assume that there is a wrong  “I”  involved in all this, inquire, “Who am I ?”.  That resolves everything.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 93:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(10)  There are none of the delusions of the Mind such as the extensive variety of sins and duties, the plethora of prescriptions and proscriptions.  The worship with attributes, devotion, the knowledge of attributes, the real and the unreal.  Casting aside everything with your inner steadfastness in the certitude that all is the divisionless Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(11)  There are none of the specious notions of the various kinds such as meditation on the qualityless nature and knowledge of the attributess form and the bondage arising out of Duality and the Liberation of being the One.  Casting aside everything with your rare steadfast certitude that all is the motionless Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(12)  There are none of the delusions of Duality such as the Inquiry into the existent and the non-existent, the Inquiry into the mobile and immobile, the Inquiry into Consciousness and non-Consciousness, and the Inquiry into the little and the great, casting aside everything by the Non-Dual certitude that all is the one Supreme Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

.Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Yes, you can say that this state of affairs is also Bhagavan’s grace, Bhagavan’s compassion.  You could say that He keeps the world like this as an incentive to go inwards. This state of affairs sets up a real choice; if we go outwards there are problems; if we go inwards there is peace.

We have to give up all the things of this world, and all other worlds, and direct all our attention towards the Self. If we want anything in this world or the next our energy will be dispersed in these desires, and to fulfill these desires we shall have to be reborn again and again.

To find the Self, to find what is real, you have to look inside yourself.

Turn to the light within all the time.

You dissipate your desire for the Self by undertaking all kinds of useless activities that waste your time and lead to attachments. You think that your life is endless and that you can put off meditation till a later date. With this kind of attitude, you will die filled with regrets, not filled with peace.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Remembrance is merely one kind of thought amongst others, each Memory forming the present, & therefore an entirely new, object of Consciousness.  It is impossible to live in the World unless we accept Causality [Cause & Effect], but it is impossible to understand the nature of the World when Causality is accepted.  Its acceptance amounts to granting the independent & simultaneous existence of objects, any one of which may be acted upon by another. This we have seen to be an impossibility, for an object cannot exist unless it is thought of, & 2 thoughts cannot occur simultaneously.

If, however, we grant for argument’s sake that objects could exist independently of their being cognized, we should still be unable to allow the relation of Cause & Effect. Strictly speaking, it is only after the occurrence that we can take it to be the Effect of a Cause, by which time the ostensible Cause must be presumed to have passed over entirely into the Effect.  The 2 never are observed in concert. Causality is therefore a meaningless term.

Notwithstanding the fact that all men experience the Self as an unbroken continuity, they normally take no note of its Existence excepting as the Subject to whom Objects appear discontinuously. This is to be expected, for they have not looked into the nature of Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Moreover, because they always emphasize the objective side of their experience & overlook the subjective, they transfer the continuity of Consciousness to the objects of Consciousness in the form of relationship.

Consciousness then appears as the Memory which relates one thought to another. But Remembrance, as already stated, is only 1 kind of thought.  And 2 thoughts cannot occur simultaneously. A thought is the Consciousness of an Object & every new thought bespeaks a new Object. Since 2 thoughts cannot together occur, it follows that 2 Objects cannot coexist. How then could they [the 2 Objects] be related ?

Thus the ideas of Change & Causality are erroneous, for the incident of Change, or the relation of a Cause to its Effect, is a figment. As to the relation of Space to Time, granting the reality of Space when the reality of the perceiver’s Body is also granted, several Perceptions are required in order that the Notion of an “extension” may be formed.

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

Whether there is a real Ego to kill, whether it was ever really there, if there seems to be an Ego, it is best to “kill” it.  The best way to kill it is to find it.  The more one inquires, the less he sees of it.  First, eliminate the tracks it leaves behind such as the actions, the “I-am-the-body idea” & so forth & so on. Then eliminate its thoughts.  Get to what the Ego, itself, is.  If you hold on to the Ego–“I” then its “I”–ness disappears & only an “I”–less “I” remains.  The Maharshi has said, “If we penetrate into the heart of the Ego, only the Self is there.”  He said so because, in Truth, there is only one “I”.  If there is an Ego, hunt it down & slay it. Your aim is to destroy it.

When you hunt it you find that there is nothing there to be destroyed. That is why it is called Maya. In the ancient scriptures, it is said that it is impossible to explain Maya & that it is “without beginning.” Most think that this means that it has been around for a long time.  That is so [in Imagination & Ignorance]. Yet it also means that it is without beginning, that it did not start. That is why it is Maya.  It did not start. If you think it is existing, it seems to have been going on for a long time, much like, when you start to dream, you feel that the Dream has already been going on.  It seems as if the Dream World has been gong on for a long time, even though it is all just in your Mind. It is like that with the present illusion. It seems as if it has been there, but really it has never been there.

Inquiring to know the Truth & getting a good grasp of what this Illusion is, [it turns out, one finds that] there is no Illusion at all. There is nothing to it. It is like bringing a light & grabbing the proverbial Snake to find that it is just a Rope. Nevertheless, you need to bring the light in & see it for yourself.

[COMMENT: Not to be disrespectful, but some may recall from The Matrix movie that similarly“one must see it [the Illusion] for yourself.”]

[in response to a questioner who feels the Ego Illusion to be a way he “boxes” himself in]

When you see yourself building the “box”, you can just as easily dismantle the box. If you think the “box” [on the other hand] comes pre­packaged, & that you are just in it, it seems a mystery as to how to attain your freedom.  But seeing how you, yourself construct the Illusion of Bondage becomes the way to your Liberation.

Your aim should be to look into the “I.” If you feel that the “I” is just a thought, a notion of Individuality that rises & falls, your aim should be to know & establish your Identity as That which sees the rise & fall even of the “I”.  That alone is the true “I” & there is where your Identity ought to be.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 92:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(6)  None of the illusions such as God, Creation, Sustaining, Destroying, practices, mantras; shrines, charity, warship, holy service exist.  Casting aside everything, with the unhindered certitude that all is the taintless Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(7)  There do not exist any of these illusions such as what is laid down in so many ways by the Vedas, what is laid down at length by Philosophy, what factors are recognized by religion, that delusion and such exist, and that delusion and such exist not.  Casting aside everything, with the steadfast certitude that the Supreme Brahman is the One, and That I am, casting aside everything by the steadfast certitude that all this is Brahman, the Mass of Bliss, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(8)  They are all  false – all the illusions bandied about such as non-existence, Existence, Duality, the one, the many, and the all.  The troublesome, the new, the nearby, the far off, sorrow. Happiness, and such.  Casting aside everything, with the unencumbered certitude that all this is Brahman, the Mass of Bliss, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

(9)  All the delusions of the Mind — Wakefulness, Dream. Deep Dreamless Sleep, the 4^th.  The Subtle and other bodies and their experiencers, various groupings as the aggregate and the discrete — are totally untrue.  Casting aside everything by the faultless, steadfast certitude all is the great Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Don’t waste energy on thinking or evaluating how well or how badly you are doing in your Meditation.

We have to give up all the things of this World and direct all our attention towards the Self. If we want anything in this World our energy will be dispersed in these desires, and to fulfill these desires we shall have to be reborn again and again.

To find the Self, to find what is real, you have to look inside yourself.

Turn to the light within all the time.

You dissipate your desire for the Self by undertaking all kinds of useless activities that waste your time and lead to attachments. You think that your life is endless and that you can put off meditation till a later date. With this kind of attitude, you will die filled with regrets, not filled with peace.

There are 2 kinds of impediments which act as obstacles for the mind to achieve Self-abidance, and hence 2 kinds of strength of mind are essential for overcoming them. The first strength is that which is required to prevent the mind from branching out into innumerable thoughts through the force of tendencies towards the sense-objects. The second strength is that which is required to direct the mind (the power of attention) towards the first person or Self, that is, the strength actually to attend to Self.

The nature of the mind is to attend always to things other than itself, that is, to know only 2^nd & 3^rd persons. If the mind in this way attends to a thing, it means that it is clinging (attaching itself) to that thing. Attention itself is attachment !

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

From previous considerations of expressions such as Consciousness, the principle of Consciousness, Peace, & Non-Duality, an important fact emerges. Material objects & their spatial situation are seen as separate notions linked only by Memory. That is to say, in the Mind, it must be clear that objects are situated, not in some invisible & external Space, but in the Consciousness of their perception

A characteristic of Waking & Dreaming experience is that of change. But nothing, in truth, changes, for when the prototype has changed, it has ceased to exist. In other words, if the object supposedly altered has ceased to exist in its previous form.  We cannot then say that the present form is anything but a new form, that is, another & original object of Consciousness.

That the Absolute Existence of a 3-dimensional Space is no longer accepted by Physics without many reservations is of real importance, since it confirms the findings of Advaita Vedanta.  The same may be said regarding the rejection of the commonsense notion of Time & the emergence of a theory of Space-Time conceived as a 4-dimensional continuum.

But when the classical concept of tri-dimensionality has been discarded, why is it thought necessary to postulate a 4-dimensional continuum, which perpetuates, in a new form, the old commonsense illusions of the real & independent existence of things ?  There is the practical advantage that such a concept is said to bring to empirical Science.  It has little meaning for Psychology & none at all for Advaita Vedanta.

This 4-dimensional continuum, if it may still be so called, is the single Consciousness in which all our manifold experience occurs. A question may arise whether records taken of the original, or our Memories of it, do not provide an adequate basis for comparing & associating the 2 objects, the old & the new. But a photograph, for example, can only be an extension to Memory, when it is not simply a substitute. And as for the ideas of plain men regarding the nature of Memory, they are based on a misunderstanding.

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

Sometimes, Consciousness is thought to be the Lord of all, creating, sustaining, & destroying everything. Some consider it to he only a Creator. After being a Creator, this God steps aside & lets everybody else take care of the creation. Some hold the view that Consciousness has created so much within it, & this Play goes on by some residual energy of the Consciousness. All the explanations were not intended to give further credence to the thing created. Some people do however think in terms of these explanations as really existing or occurring.

Inquiring to know who we are, we look for the Consciousness that is invariable. Whatever is variable is only the modification of thoughts & is not Consciousness itself Consciousness is aware of all change, yet is unchanging. The characteristic sign of Reality, real Being, is that it always is just as it is, without beginning, middle, or end, & without change.  Inquiring, we find our Identity is just Consciousness.  We find that Reality is, indeed, Consciousness.

The question arises, “If Consciousness, the real Self, is ever the same, how has any of this [the World] ever come to be?”  The question resolves itself further into, “Has it come to be ?”  One requires a “how” if it is really there.  We do not require a reason why or an explanation of how the proverbial Snake came to be in a Rope, or how the water came to be in the mirage. The true knowledge is that there is no water & that there is no Snake.  Likewise is it with the whole Creation.  The idea of how it comes to be experienced is based upon the idea that it is experienced.  We inquire & know Reality. We find that all else did not arise & will not arise in the Future.  Such did not happen.  Such will not happen.  While you are in deep Meditation, all objectified experience may cease, even at its own level, yet should it not cease, it is still not created.  It does not need to go away because it is not there to begin with.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 91:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 35:

(2)  When inquired into, all names and forms that appear as differences in Brahman, of the nature of the one undivided Essence, not different from the incorporeal Existence, the Self, are not different at all.  Casting aside everything, with the blemishless certitude that all is the peaceful Brahman, and l am that changeless Brahman.  Abide in your natural Self.

(3)  The Intellect and other appearances have not the least existence apart from Brahman, which is Consciousness alone.  The Mind and other appearances have not the least existence. apart from Brahman, the perfectly full.  Casting aside everything with the Non-Dual certitude.  That any kind of appearance is Brahman. and that the One perfect Fullness is myself. abide changelessly in the Self.

(4)  There is nothing as darkness or light or something different, this or that, you or me, bewilderment or clear perception or illusion, Mind or its ramifications, form or formlessness.  Casting aside everything with the blessed certitude that all that exists is Brahman, and that I am, changelessly abide in the Self.

(5)  There never is any such delusion as, “This is the Lord and this is the World which is his creation; I am an Individual here; I am born here; I am tied by Bondage; I am a Sufferer;  I am the child, I am the adult, the mortal.”  Casting aside everything, with the blemishless certitude that all that all that exists is the differenceless Brahman, and That I am, abide changelessly in the Self.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

You have to make an enormous effort to realize the Self.  It is very easy to stop on the way & fall back into Ignorance. At any moment you can fall back. You have to make a strong determined effort to remain on the peak when you first reach it, but eventually a time will come when you are fully established in the Self. When that happens, you cannot fall.

You must have a lifelong commitment to establish yourself in the Self. Your determination to succeed must be strong & firm, &  it should manifest as continuous, not part-time, effort. For many lifetimes you have been immersed in ignorance. You are habituated to it. All your deeply rooted beliefs, all your patterns of behavior reinforce Ignorance & strengthen the hold it has over you. This Ignorance is so strong, so deeply enmeshed in all your psychological structures, it takes a massive effort over a long period of time to break free from it. The habits &  beliefs that sustain it have to be challenged again & again.

Don’t be discouraged by the length of the journey, & don’t slacken in your efforts to get home.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

The concept of Space & the erroneous idea that objects have an independent & simultaneous existence go hand in hand.  When this has not been understood, the following question is often asked, usually with a look & a tone of supreme triumph: “If objects are notions that arise & abide solely in my head, should not a distant object, when I think of it, appear just before me here ?”. The question is based on misunderstanding.

Determinative thoughts as to Time & Place do not always accompany the thought of an object, though they almost invariably do. They do that with such rapidity as to make the question seem plausible at first sight Yet the object itself, when we are specifically thinking about it, has no location. That is to say, we do not think of it as being near or far, here or there.  The notion of the object is alone present to Consciousness.  It needs a separate thought, or series of thoughts, to situate the object in relation to others [near or far, here or there].

This will be evident if we consider the sort of Sensory impressions spontaneously evoked by the words “here” & “there”.  And besides, the same Memory which makes us believe in the simultaneous existence of objects will not allow us to see a mountain on a writing desk.

Abstract thinking, like Space, Location, Distance, Proximity, & Direction are abstract terms arising out of present Perceptions, without which they would be meaningless. These convenient generalities we tend to convert into absolute entities. It must never be forgotten that whenever we use such words, we are speaking of actual images or Sensations, however vague they may be. For there is no difference between mental & physical awareness.

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

For most seekers, the approach & the progression of spiritual experience, will be, “It is not my Happiness, it is not my Identity, it is not the Reality.” You cease to regard Ignorance as your Happiness. Then you cease to regard it as your Identity.  Then you cease to regard it as existing at all.  It is possible to go otherwise [in some other sequence], but in any even, it should be done completely.

In one sense, you are enjoying more, but you are not enjoying the object. Track the Bliss. Of course, you are feeling happier, because you are clearing up the question of what is Real or not, Who you are & what is not who you are. Therefore, the Bliss is shining. Now, do not be so silly as to make a Superimposition regarding the Bliss, & think that you will find Happiness in the given activity itself.  Otherwise, you may merely become the author of a book to be titled, ‘The Joy of Whatever” instead of realizing the Eternal, nondependent Bliss of the Self.  Whenever Happiness shines in your experience, it is your own True Nature shining, & to the degree that you remove the false definitions that hem that Nature in, to that degree the Bliss shines all the more for you.

If in our Waking Dream, we imagine some other scheme of “reality”, then we feel there must be some explanation for it.  The explanations usually given are that God, or the Supreme Self, has created it or has dreamed it. The original purpose of such explanations was to guide the seeker’s Mind to the Self, which is the Source.  If you think that there has been creation, you should go to that Source. All the explanations are originally intended to point one to pure Consciousness & not make one think in terms of the objective or manifest thing as actually created or happening.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 89:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(34)  There is nothing in the World to equal the Knowledge that gives the clear discernment that I, the undivided, complete, perfectly full Self, am Brahman.  What can surpass this Knowledge ?   Those who have attained the Knowledge, which is the Awareness of the undivided Supreme Brahman.  That I am Brahman, Brahman is myself. and I am all — will become Brahman alone and. rid of all limitations, attain Liberation that enables one to exist as oneself.

(35)  Only the extremely firm certitude, “I am Brahman, all is the undivided Supreme Brahman, and That indeed is myself, and I am That”, can be said to be the Knowledge of the immaculate Self.  Worthy son! hence, attaining firmly without impediments the steadfast certitude, “I am Brahman”.  You will ever be. free of bondage, without any shackles, and become Brahman, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

(41)  The “I am Brahman” certitude is indeed, The acme of firm Upanishadic conclusion.  The “I am Brahman” certitude is indeed, the settled conclusion described in various scriptures when deeply inquired into.

The “I am Brahman” certitude indeed, the settled conclusion emphasized by the endless, legendary lore when studied in depth.  The “I am Brahman” certitude is indeed, the settled conclusion described by all the legendary texts when closely looked into.

(42)  The “I am Brahman” certitude indeed, the settled conclusion of the Lord.  The “I am Brahman” certitude indeed, the firm settled conclusion of the undivided Knowledge.  The “I am Brahman” certitude indeed, the settled conclusion of the disciples of the Lord. The “I am Brahman” certitude indeed, the settled conclusion of the devotees of the Lord who have attained undivided Knowledge.

(48)  The undivided Supreme State will ensue, for those who have the steadfast “I am Brahman” certitude.  The relentless hold of reincarnation will disappear For those who have the steadfast “I am Brahman” certitude.  Endless varieties of afflictions will be finished for those who have the steadfast “I am Brahman” certitude.  The undivided Supreme Joy will result for those who have the steadfast “I am Brahman” certitude.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

We have learned to see only those things that seem to be real, but will not learn to see the Truth of the One that sees & knows them.  If we do grasp the Reality of the One that perceives & knows, the ghost-like Ego will fall away & the deep intense Bliss of the life of Grace, the Supreme Self, will come into Existence.

 Reality, the supreme & unique Nature of the Self, is nothing other than the heart in which the power of the Mind to generate its false creations has died.  If the aggressive Ego is eliminated at its Source, a joy will arise that the sorrows of the Mind cannot touch.

 Those who, through holy grace, have purified their Consciousness by remaining as the Witness, will attain an Awareness whose strength derives from its 1–pointedness. Through that Awareness they will be freed from delusive desires &  the terrors they bring, thus attaining the authentic state of Supreme Bliss free all affliction.

 Laying hold of that Self, which is the cause of Love, you should realize your True Nature in the Bliss of the Real.

 Eliminating the error of my words, thoughts & deeply flawed Ego-Mind so that all my defects subsided, a greater Existence enfolded me, the wealth of the Real, flaring up within my heart in the form of dynamic Consciousness.

 Mistaking Dream for Reality, my changeful Mind had been overspread by dark clouds of Delusion, intoxicated by its own error until it was submerged in the Reality of the immutable Self & merged into a true Existence where all conflict is absent.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

The response to Sensory stimuli that exceed a certain minimum threshold continues for a brief period after the event. Ultimately this response is cerebral & belongs to the domain of Biochemistry.  In normal circumstances, distinct groups of Sensations & their prolongation, succeed one another with sufficient rapidity to make them appear as though the formed an unbroken line. There will, however, be no difficulty in understanding that objective continuity is an illusion, if what was said regarding the interval be between 2 thoughts be borne in Mind.

We do not normally take note of this interval because we wrongly assume that when nothing objective is presented to Consciousness, what subsists is nothingness & not Consciousness.  The Sense of continuity cannot therefore be derived from the objective, physiological side of Perception.  The Sense of continuity is derived from the single, immutable, & non-temporal Consciousness in which all Perceptions occur.

As regards the Psychological origin of tri-dimensionality, when our attention goes outward, we become conscious of Sensations & instinctively perform a mental process. Completing it, with another, which is to imagine what we cannot possibly perceive, namely, the other side or the inside of the surface, we perceive notionally [mental].

We then gain the impression of having perceived a 3-dimensional object. Our habit of combining Tactile with Visual & other Sensations is due partly, if not wholly, to the fact that we are able to have the Feeling of, or Touch, those parts of our Body we cannot see.  The analogy does the rest. As an illustration of how we create the appearance of the World, we need only look at a painting & ask ourselves where the recognition of nonexistent objects in a non-existent Space comes from.  It does not come from the colored canvas.  It comes from our habit of associating things physically experienced & visually appearing.

In practice, we do not always actually see or feel, in imagination, the other side or the inside of a surface. The idea of materiality is so much a part of our mental habit that we do not need to. In Sensory Perception, as in thinking, even those who are least developed among us often arrive at conclusions by an round-about process which is probably the best measure of good & bad Brains. While this Method is being practiced, it may be necessary to disentangle ourselves at first from this pragmatically useful but metaphysically unreliable short cut.

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

You pass through Waking, Dreaming, & Deep Dreamless Sleep states. Your Mind passes from Waking to Dreaming states, &, suddenly, all the Dreaming events are given the stamp of Reality, while the Waking state is regarded as though it had never happened. You may not even remember the Waking state.  If you enter into Deep Dreamless Sleep, both Dreaming & Waking states are gone. All the multiplicity is gone, & there is just Deep thoughtless, Dreamless Sleep. Still, there is the sense of Reality, but now it is not being given to anything else, not being stamped upon anything.

The Dreaming state of Mind comes out of the seed of Deep Dreamless Sleep, which is why Deep Dreamless Sleep is referred to as the “causal” state.  You later regard one of the Dreams as the “Waking state”.  You then think, “Here it is” & you give to it the stamp of Reality. As the Maharshi often points out in his Teaching, “Nothing comes & tells you, ‘this is real’.”‘  It does not stand before you & say, “I am Real.” In your experience you must say, “It is Real,” & so you to consider it as such. When you say it is Real, the Reality still inheres in you, oneself which is the Non-Dual Self.  The Reality is not as the “person” for that is just one of the phenomena that are coming & going.  Reality is found in & as your real Being.  There is the Truth.  From there is where the sense of Reality derives.  Nothing ever declares its Reality, no matter how Real it seems. You can superimpose that unreal thing upon the Reality, & then it seems endowed with the qualities as if it is Real, like the “Snake” that never declares its Reality. Only in Imagination does one say it is a “Snake” [though it was a mistaken rope all along]. It is just like that with everything else in relation to the Self, which alone is the one, sole-existent Reality.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 88:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(26)  Hence, all seekers after Liberation should easily attain the certitude of the undivided Supreme and thereby remove these differences of the Intellect that are the origin of an indescribable variety of fear and sorrow.  The removal of that thought of differentiation is the fearless establishment in the abode of Freedom from fear and the attainment of bondage Liberation.

(27)  Except for those who have attained the certitude of  “I am Brahman”, “Brahman is myself”, “I am all”.  The Non-Dual state of Liberation, which is the undivided, Supreme Brahman, is not within reach.  This is so for all those who are obsessed with notions of differences  Of the World, the Supreme, I. you, this and such. only those, who have the certitude of “I am Brahman”, will attain complete Liberation;

(28)  Whatever is seen as illusory superimposition on the Self Is never apart from the substratum, the Self.  The Self is indeed the undivided, Supreme Brahman. the undivided, Supreme Brahman is indeed the Self.  Being aware of the Supreme Brahman, which is not different from the Self, by abiding on the state of  “I am Brahman”, and being the Supreme Brahman is not different from the Self, and being the unwavering, is undivided Liberation.

(29)  There is not the least bit apart from the Self, not the least bit, not the least bit, not the least bit.  Whatever is seen an superimposed on the Self is indeed the Self, indeed the Self, indeed the Self.  The Self it is that is the undivided expanse of Consciousness, the Non-Dual Supreme Brahman, the Self it is that is the completely peaceful, Undivided, complete, and perfectly full Brahman.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Established in the highest Awareness, which is of the nature of the indivisible Self, & which is free of a discriminating consciousness based upon discursive thought, my Mind’s illusory cravings have ceased, & that enervated state dominated by suffering & deluded desire has come to its final end.

Through the arrogance of the Body-bound Ego, my Mind rushed hither &  thither until it was finally & irrevocably defeated, as my Consciousness merged into that glorious unbroken Awareness that is the Bliss of Being, which is the boundless expanse of the one true Self.

Attaining a vision beyond the reach of sight & an Awareness more subtle than the tiniest atom, I have become established in the Reality of the Self that shines unaffected by anything else.  And thus my Mind has merged with the Supreme in which there is no going, no coming, no connection with anything whatsoever.

In the Supreme that exists as the Self, free of all modification, the movements of my own Mind, realizing their True Nature in the heart as that radiant Supreme, entirely subsided, remaining absorbed in the Self as the Self.

Through being established in the Being-Awareness that is my authentic nature, I became free of the mental activity that caused me to act in accordance with the imaginary creations of a divided, Mind that was deluded by the thought of “I”  &  “this”.

My Mind’s activity along with my Ego subsided & fell into total abeyance so that, with no longer anything to experience or know, I rejoiced with the nature of the eternal & all-pervading Self as my sole object.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Our knowledge of this “dimension” likewise cannot be the result of direct Perception, for Sensations are of surfaces. Nevertheless, the idea of depth is inherent in the Notion we have of surfaces, a surface without substance being quite inconceivable [~ bootstrapping dependent origination].  The Notion of Depth has its physiological basis in 2 parallel factors – the conventions of the Sense of Touch & binocular Vision  The second is impossible without the first. Binocular vision provides the stereoscopic effect, the appreciation of depth & distance.

This depends on the fact that the images of an object formed by each eye are slightly different & that these 2 images are presented simultaneously to the Brain without appearing double. The 2 distinct images, that is to say, 2 distinct Perceptions, come to appear in Consciousness as 1.  A similar process is performed in the Brain with respect to tactile Sensations, as can easily be verified.

The Skin offers a good instance of how our conventional reading of Sensations depends merely upon habituation.  A pencil slid between the tips of the Middle & Index finger is felt as one stimulus because these surfaces are normally adjacent & we have learnt to fuse their Sensations. But, if the fingers are crossed, surfaces which are never normally in contact are brought together & a pencil placed between them is now felt as “double”.

In this case, association does not occur automatically, as is normal. Instead the 2 Sensations appear as 1 even though 2 separate Sensations are experienced.  If we did not have the testimony of our eyes or the knowledge of the experiment we were making, the 2 Sensations would remain, & in fact they are, quite discrete [separate].

This should now be applied to the faculty of grasping, in which the physiological basis of tri-dimensionality certainly lies.  But the Physiological aspect of Perception cannot be separate from the Psychological.

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

You are active with your eyes open. The path of Self-Knowledge is in no way bound by Action or Inaction.  Someone who is correctly pursuing the path of Self-Inquiry or Self-Knowledge does not have any difficulty with Action. The reason for this is that, right from the start, as is so clearly evident in the Maharshi’s teaching, there is the elimination of the notion of the Performer of Action, the Doer of Action.  This is because you are not the Body.  The Body does Action.  You do not.  There is no problem with Action. If the Meditation be one of Self-Inquiry, which is turning inward to know oneself, one can meditate with the eyes open, with the eyes closed, & while active or inactive.  Of course, in practical application, most, if not all, people on a path of Self-Knowledge will take time for silent, closed eyed Meditation. It is, perhaps, their most worthwhile activity. Nevertheless, the substance of the experience, of knowing oneself: of Inquiring, is in no way bound by Activity & is in no way bound to an inactive state.  To assume so is to miss the basic Foundation stones of the Teaching.  Experience goes beyond the Body & bodily activities. If you can see this with one activity, you will be able to see this with all activities in the course of practice. If you can see this with all activities, you see this with all sensory phenomena, all sensory experience whatsoever, from birth to death & everything in between.

This comes by pursuing the same Knowledge, that same spiritual freedom, inside. When we think a thing to be real, that does not make it real. When we think a thing to be unreal, that does not make it unreal.  Something will not change its own nature. That is fundamental in the Teaching. Whatever you are, you always are. You will not change your True Nature.  It is important, though, that you know who you are. That may manifest as the greatest change in Life, from suffering to complete Happiness, from agitation to Peace, from Samsara to Realization.  But what you are in itself, the Self, undergoes no change.  Similarly, if something is unreal, even if you think it to be real many times over, such does not make it so.

Let us say you are given some news. Somebody tells you something, but it is not true. This may be either because that person made it up, or he was told by somebody else who made it up, or someone mixed up the story somewhere along the line.  Let us say you go on thinking that the so-called “news” is true, even for years.  That would not make it true, would it ?  It would be only your idea.  If this can be so with a relative issue, how much more so can it be thus for Reality itself.  Thinking something so does not make it so.  It is just thinking.  When you think a thing is real, that does not make it real.

On a path of Knowledge, one finds out from where the sense of Reality comes.  Undeniable is it that everyone has a sense of  “this is real.”  This is usually associated with the so-called “present moment”. Though when one is very much caught up in memories, the memories seem present. The proverbial case of the mistaking a Rope for a Snake is the classical analogy. A Rope in dim light. is mistaken to he a Snake. The Snake seems to be the exact shape as a Rope. It is, though, an Illusion superimposed on the Rope. The Rope alone is real. The Snake has never come to be.

Likewise, the present thoughts seem very vivid. When an object fades away, or that particular experience fades away, & that moment in time fades away; that “here & now” also fades away. The next “here & now” seems very real, & on & on it goes since Infancy, or before. You go on thinking “this is Real, this is Real, this is Real.”  Everything is getting the stamp of Reality, & the stamp of Reality is being withdrawn the next moment for the next experience. In Ignorance, one says, “the World is real, it comes to me.”  This is despite the fact that it does not come to him.  You give it the sense of Reality.  Then it passes, & you give the next thing a sense of Reality.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 87:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(21)  Apart from the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman, there is not a trace of anything  – not a trace, not a trace. It is only the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman that is all the endless multiplicity of Individuals, the Lord, and the World.  It is only the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman that is ever our Real Nature.  It is only the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman that is ever your natural Self.

(22) ‘The originless, undivided, Supreme Brahman is the nature of the Self.  It is the nature of the Self that is it is the nature of the differenceless Supreme Brahman.  The identity expressed without a difference is the undivided meaning made known by the great aphorisms [Mahavakyas] unanimously. hence, all seekers after Liberation should ever have the certitude, “I am Brahman”.

(24)  Of what avail is saying ot on so many ways ?  Hear the sentence that is the Supreme Truth expressed in brief: All the seeming illusory appearances are only the undistorted substratum Brahman, and not the least thing is apart therefrom.  Thus though a process of Negation one should realize fearlessly that it is the Supreme Brahman that exists ever, is ever One, and I too am That.

(25) The differentiation by the Intellect, that all this is separate and I indeed am separate and the Supreme Brahman is separate, can be uprooted only by the complete, steadfast, undivided certitude that all is the undivided, Supreme Brahman.  That indeed is myself and I am That.  The debilitating thought of differentiation cannot easily be removed by any religious or other act.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The Mind which has obtained a burning Desire for Self-attention, which is Self-Inquiry, is said to be the fully mature one.

Since this Mind, which has very well understood that the Consciousness which shines as “I” alone is the Source of full & real Happiness, now seeks Self because of its natural craving for Happiness, this intense Desire to attend lo Self is indeed the highest form of Devotion.

In order to qualify as an aspirant, one must have the absolute conviction that Happiness, the sole aim of all living beings, can be obtained not from external objects but only from one’s own inmost Self. When one has this qualification, an intense yearning will arise in one’s heart to try to attend to & know Self. Indeed, for a true aspirant the desire & effort to know Self will become the most important part of his life, & all other things will be regarded as being only of 2^ndary importance. When such an intense yearning arises in one, success is assured, for “where there is a will there is a way.”

Mature aspirants will willingly & without rebelling submit themselves to this magnetic power of the Grace of Self-effulgence. Others, on the other hand, will become extroverted (that is, will turn their attention outwards) fearing the attraction of this Power. Therefore, we should first make ourselves fit by the intense Love to know the Self & by the tremendous Detachment of having no desire to attend to any 2^nd or 3^rd person.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Positively with our own Body, vicariously through another’s, or through some recording apparatus, we arc present to witness the inferred events, no matter whether the inference be right or wrong.  Russell states:  “Matter has very definitely come down in the World as a result of recent Physics.  It used to be the cause of our Sensations:  Dr. Johnson “disproved” Berkeley’s denial [Idealism] by kicking a stone. If he had known that his foot never touched the stone, & that both were complicated systems of wave-motions, he might have been less satisfied with this refutation. We cannot say that “matter” is the cause of our Sensations.

This is merely to substitute one terminology for another.  The proper reply is that Johnson’s foot formed an integral part of the seemingly external World & as such was not different from the stone. And if the stone was mental, so was the Body. His mistake was in thinking of his Body as a thing apart.

Our notion of Matter coincides with the twin illusions that objects exist independently of their being perceived; & that these objects, whether solid, liquid or gaseous, consist of 3 dimensions.  In order to understand how the notion of a 3 – dimensional object arises, it is necessary first to understand how we form the Notion of extension in length & breadth. Extension, in length, in breadth, or in both together, is an idea formed by our memory of discontinuous though successive Sensations which, from the commonsense standpoint, may appear either as physical or mental.

These Sensations give us the impression that we have perceived a surface.  But there has been no immediate Perception of a surface. As an example, behold a printed page, held at reading distance. Notice that the eyes or the page must be moved if more than a very limited portion is to be seen.  While one observes one portion, he cannot observe the others. Thus the impression of having seen a page is not the product of a single, comprehensive glance. It derives from the memory of several distinct glances.

At this stage, we may usefully recall that if the percipient is repeatedly & similarly affected by a more or less constant group of Sensations, he forms the notion of a specific object 3. Depth. Having found extension in length & breadth to be a notion, let us now consider extension 1 1 say ‘at reading distance’, because it often happens that what afterwards is called a surface falls within the field of a single visual or tactile focus of attention. In such cases, we either look or feel more minutely, or else, & this is the most usual, we unwittingly call on past experience to supply imaginatively the Sensations that combine to form the notion of a surface or an object in depth, or from a surface inwards.

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

Detachment from thoughts  naturally arises when you are treating the thoughts as thoughts & not yourself.  When you do so, you no longer feel as though you are in that mode.  As for Suffering, such can be different from discomfort.  Pain is of the Body.  Truth is not an anesthetic.  It does not get rid of pain, at least not on its own level.  If we realize that there is no such thing as the World, & that the Uncreated alone is, we can say that pain has been obliterated, but not at the level of the Senses.  In Reality, we know there is no such thing as Pain, because there is no such thing as a World or a Body.  As a consequence, we do not suffer, even when pain occurs.  Obviously, infirmity & illness, & the onset of death cause pain, but they need not cause suffering.  Pain is the Sensation. Suffering is when you think you are the one who is encapsulated within that experience of pain.  Pain affects the Body.  When it seems to affect “you” such is called Suffering. Bliss belongs to the Self.  Bliss never belonged to the Body. Only pleasure & pain belong to the Body. Bliss is not pleasure.  Bliss is not pain.

Anything objective is some kind of “this”.  The more definition that you place upon “this,” the more separate it seems to be. Where does the definition of “this” come from ? Actually, it derives from the definition of “I.”  When you look out into the Universe, it is but a mirror of your own Self.  How you conceive of  “yourself “ determines how you conceive of  “this”.  If you conceive of an “I” there is a “this”.  Make the “I” embodied, & “this” becomes the “World,” just as occurred in last night’s Dream. Conceive of yourself as a Dream character with a Dream Body, & there is a Dream World & a relation between them. When you wake up, though, you know that there has been no Dream character, & there has been no Dream World; nor was there a Dream relation between them.  There was one Consciousness that was invisible, although it was the only thing really present during the Dream.  It was all your Consciousness, yet your Consciousness never became “anything”, neither in an unreal way, nor in a real way, nor as a play, nor as a wish, nor any other such thing.  It was entirely just Illusion. Illusion means that which is not.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 86:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(17)  In the domain of Ignorance, the one Brahman will appear as the endless variety of Individuals, the Lord, and World.  In the domain of Knowledge comes into view, the expanse of the World and Individuals will appear as of the nature the Immaculate Supreme. even if a Rope appears in the domain of Ignorance.  As a Snake or some such form. when the domain of Knowledge comes into view, is it not indeed only the Rope and nothing else ?

(18)  Hence, even if, for the non-inquiring fools, the Undivided, perfectly full Brahman appears as of the Elements and other variety of things,  For the Conquerors, who have inquired completely, all this appearance, which seems to be differences, us only the partless, undivided Supreme Brahman. Noble Sage! there is not an iota of doubt about this. is there any doubt in what the Lord has told me ?

(19)  Nothing is created at any time.  Nothing exists at any time.  Nothing is destroyed at any time.  Nothing at any time exists – nothing at all.  It is only the one complete, perfectly full Brahman which is ever without Duality, that exists at all times everywhere.  In the name of the Lord, what is told here is the Truth.

(20)  Apart from the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman, there is nothing as Ignorance or Knowledge. Apart from the undivided, completely, perfectly full Brahman, there is nothing as superimposition or its removal. Apart from the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman, there is no World or Individuals or Supreme or any such thing.  It is only the undivided, completely. perfectly full Brahman that exists ever as the one undivided Essence.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

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 (believing that I am a Body & a particular Person) 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 that 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.

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.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Why should God, which may be supposed to want nothing, should have wished a Universe into being ? Rather than toy with these insoluble problems to no purpose, we note that all questions regarding Origins are illogical & absurd.  Cosmogony & Evolution, from various standpoints, consider the question of Origins.

Bertrand Russell, writing about the philosophy of Berkeley, remarks that “although Berkeley is right in saying that the events we know immediately are mental, it is highly probable that he is wrong as to the events we infer in places where there are no living bodies.”  Lord Russell allows such a probability because Light & Sound take time to travel from their sources to the perceiver, & one must suppose that something is happening along the route by which they travel. What is happening along the route is presumably not “mental”, for, as we have seen, “mental” events are those that have peculiar information effects which are connected with living tissue.”

We are unable to see any difference between “the events we know immediately” & those “we infer in places where there are no living bodies.”  For in postulating events we do not or cannot actually perceive, we inevitably visualize mental images which therefore we know immediately.”  Even if vaguely, as though they were physically before us, we grant the dualism of Mind & matter which Russell has elsewhere disproved.

Again from Bertrand Russell: “As regards the World in general, both physical & mental, everything that we know of its intrinsic character is derived from the mental side, & almost everything that we know of its causal laws is derived from the physical side. But from the standpoint of philosophy, the distinction between physical & mental is superficial & unreal.”

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

Let us assume that you are observing your own state of Mind, be it a particular thought, a mood, or mode.  When you have the recognition that this is not the highest way to be, you are already beginning to step out of it.  Proceed further.  Recognize that this tendency, Suffering, or Ignorance is not caused by external circumstances.  This is self-conjured.  With this recognition, you know that this is your own imagination or hallucination.  This is your idea.  It is not being caused by something else.  You are the one conjuring up this Ignorance for yourself, & it is not due to anyone else.  Thus, you are very much free to set yourself entirely free.  Then, there is the Realization that not only is Ignorance not your Self but it is something objectively displayed before you.  Furthermore, that objective display is now fully in the domain of your own responsibility.

The benefit of taking responsibility for one’s own Delusion is that one is then set free from it.  As long as an “other” is supposed to be the cause of the Superimposition or the Ignorance, how will there be Liberation ?  That “other” could sneak up at any time & bind you!  If one knows within himself that he himself imagines his own Bondage, & that he himself, liberates himself, nothing external is seen to be the cause of suffering, bondage, unhappiness.  Taking that responsibility, you are set free, because you can change your Mind.  Deeper still, you can change in a spiritual sense so that you no longer misidentify with the Mind.  You can destroy the particular thought forms, & you can transcend the Mind entirely. Once you see that it is your own ideas, then the Inquiry, “For whom are these ideas ?  Are they true ?  What is the Reality ?” starts to make very good sense.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 85:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(5)  Apart from the Supreme Brahman, which is Knowledge,  Neither you nor I nor anyone exists.  Without Supreme Brahman, which is Knowledge.  There is no multitude of appearances like the body and such.  Without the Supreme Brahman, which is natural Knowledge, there is no reality-unreality.  Without Supreme Brahman, which is Knowledge, there are no divisions such as the Supreme, the Individuals, and the World.

(6)  Apart from Brahman, the shining Knowledge, there is neither Duality nor Non-Duality.  Without Brahman, the luminous Knowledge, there is neither Darkness nor Light; nor is there Space.  Apart from the Brahman, the untainted, There is neither the great nor the trivial, nor anything else.  Apart from Brahman, the clear Knowledge, there is nothing that is seen as an Illusion.

(7)  Apart from Brahman, the Awareness untarnished by thought, there is neither Body, nor Life, nor the World.  Apart from Brahman, the unsullied Awareness, there is neither Cause nor Effect.  Apart from Brahman, the manifest, there is nothing to be taught or to be learned.  Apart from Brahman, the Awareness, there never is an appearance of Duality.

(9)  Apart from Brahman. the differenceless Knowledge,  there is no differentiation such as Bondage or Liberation.  Apart from Brahman, the luminous Knowledge,  there is not a bit of Sorrow or Happiness or such.  Apart from Brahman. the unaffected Knowledge,  there is no such word as “no”.  The Supreme Brahman, of the nature of undivided Knowledge, without beginning or end, is all.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The nature of my realization was such that the ‘I’ that asserts its own reality was revealed as false & disappeared, but not the ‘I’ that is the unique, pure, non- dual Self that exists permeating all things equally.

The Enlightened State, in which the Grace & Wisdom of the Self is directly experienced, will not come into being unless we separate ourselves from the illusory World of the divided Mind so that it can no longer exist. Therefore we must thoroughly investigate & comprehend our own Self, so that the hostility of the ghost-like Ego, that brings with it the torment of an understanding based on differentiation, may cease.

Through tenacious Self-Inquiry into the Self the pure “I” springs forth, eliminating the false personal Identity. We should realize that that true “I”, filled with the Light of our own True Nature, is the Supreme Reality itself.

Dualistic concepts such as “I”  & “He” are a treacherous trick of the mind that assumes the form of the Body. Eliminate therefore this powerful mental imagination & discern the Self.

Even now, if you entirely eradicate the personal Ego based on the multifarious nature of the non-Self, you will experience an intense & limitless Awakening, as your true nature, the Supreme Self, shines out.

Realization in all its clarity flourished in the form of Self-Consciousness, the light of Truth shining in the Heart as the vast expanse in which there is no arising of the contemptible Ego.

The death of the Ego, which arises as “I” in conjunction with the Body’s physical form, is synonymous with a new Existence in the luminous firmament of the Supreme, free of the embodied Mind’s forgetfulness of the Self.

The Ego self is like a poison which has its origin in & thrives upon a fundamental misapprehension.  Here in the World it is an enemy masquerading as a friend & you should root up & cast out every last vestige of it.

Allow Reality to shine as it truly is without any obstacle whatsoever by means of the destruction of the age-old deceit of the hostile Ego.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Wanting to rise above the commonsense outlook, just as we cannot gauge the exact color of objects if we always wear tinted glasses, we cannot know the true nature of our individual experience if we persist in viewing it from the standpoint of Individuality. Thus the commonsense outlook must be surpassed if we would understand our individual experience aright.  Common Sense, in truth, is synonymous with Ignorance: &  Ignorance breeds doubt. As a practical measure, therefore, we would do well to seek the motive of every philosophical question. If its purpose was to elicit an answer tending to establish the validity of the Commonsense, Waking, point of view, we should reconsider the whole problem from the standpoint of Consciousness. Then it can be seen in its proper perspective, or else it may vanish.

Something in us is sure to set up a clamor of, ” yes, but . . .“, “all the same . . .”, & the rest.  But that will not deter us.  Our motive is the quest for Truth.  There need be no Distinction between the Mental & the Physical due to something.  The something is the Ego.

Waking experience, like the experience of Dreaming, is a product of the Mind.. We have found that all Sense-objects, including our Body, exist solely as Notions, in other words, that they exist only when thought of.  Thus the distinction between Physical & Mental objects is unreal. The difference lies, not in the nature of the objects, but in the different quality, or intensity, of thoughts.

Extroversion seems at one time to assume tangibility & at another it does not. Why should this be so ?  It would necessitate an excursion into the fields of Cosmogony & Evolution. That would be to concede that appearances as such existed independently of their being cognized.  Nothing, moreover, could possibly be gained from such a concession.  If we were to fall back upon some outside principle by way of explaining the origin of manifestation, we would still be unable to find any reason for the First Cause.

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

Look in this way, & there are no others.  Look in this way, & there is no separation between yourself & the true Self you are attempting to realize.  There is no difference between the seeker & what is sought

This is just timeless Truth, eternal Truth, just one Self.  In experiencing Self-Knowledge, there is no distinguishing between the knower & the known.  There is no separate realizer & thing realized, no knower & no known.  It is Self-Knowledge­-of-oneself, one Self knowing oneself, one Self—not another. It is Non-Dual.  Experience this for yourself by inquiring.  When you inquire deeply, the entire notion of differentiation is burnt up, is consumed, & becomes absurd.

“I am the very Existence of all.” Can you understand it now?  That which truly exists, never ceases to be. That which truly is never changes.  That which is Real, does not depend on anything else to be or to be experienced.  This is Being.  Earnestness, Renunciation of Attachment, & introspection in the form of Self-inquiry are what are necessary for Self-Realization.  The Knowledge of the Self is the Knowledge of all.  As the dimension of depth of the image in the mirror does not truly exist, so differentiation does not exist in the one Self.  The Ego is a false assumption & nothing more.  The Ego is a false assumption assumed by no one.  The Eternal Silence of the Self is the Uncreate in which nothing has ever occurred & in which nothing ever will occur.

Something else, be such called an “it” or “this,” & some­thing else, be it called an individual “I” or by some other name —any kind of something other—is just not true.  There is just one Self.  Realizing this for yourself there is Perfection.  There is Peace.  There is unflawed Happiness.  This is just the honest Truth.

When you thoroughly recognize Ignorance as Ignorance, it is no more for you.  This recognition may start with understanding, “This is not necessarily the Truth”  or  “This is not the best that I know”  or
”I know something higher than this.”  It can he that simple.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 84:

Ribhu Gita (Tamil) Ch 34:

(2)  All that, which is seen as an appearance, is the Omnipresent Brahman, the Seer alone. Though it seems like an appearance because of fickle thought, when inquired into, it is only the Seer and not a bit apart, such as this and that. What is seen through Knowledge Is only Knowledge. indeed. When inquired into, waves of various forms are only water. Are they anything else ?

(3) Hence them is nowhere a bit apart, such as this and that, except Knowledge. Apart from that Brahman of the nature of Knowledge. There is no empirical existence in the World. Apart from the mass of Knowledge, the Supreme Brahman, There is no existence such as a World, the Individuals, and the Supreme. The undivided Supreme Brahman, without beginning or end. Of the nature of Knowledge is indeed all.

(4) The World and Individuals, seeming real, are nothing apart from the Reality, Brahman. and not a bit different from Brahman, which is That alone. This is the Truth, there is no doubt about this. The Supreme Brahman which is Existence alone is ever our True Nature. The true nature of the World and such is a superimposition on the Supreme Brahman. which is That alone.

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

This life is all a Dream, a Dream within a Dream. We dream this World, we dream that we die & take Birth in another Body. And in this birth we dream that we have Dreams. All kinds of pleasures & suffering alternate in these Dreams, but a moment comes when waking up happens. In this moment, which we call realizing the Self, there is the understanding that all the Births, all the Deaths, all the sufferings & all the pleasures were unreal Dreams that have finally come to an end.

You are looking for satisfaction in the outside World because you think that all these objects you see in front of you are real. They are not.

If you abide as the Self, you will see the World as the Self. In fact, there will be no World at all.

Nothing exists here & therefore there are no concepts of objects; there is nothing other than the Self & the Self does not conceive of an object. 511. It is only as long as you are not fully enlightened that you experience apparent diversity.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

We need not, & indeed we cannot, disregard the canons of common sense in the purely human situations to which they apply. But we should become centered in the immutable Self instead of living on a periphery & falling a prey to whatever affects our person.  We must adopt a position that will enable us to view with complete objectivity all the aspects of our experience.  In this way alone can we discriminate between its transient & its imperishable sides.

Such a view is not to be had excepting from the vantage-point of Consciousness.  As far as the attribution of Life to other bodies, between animate & inanimate bodies, no certain distinction can always be made. The Senses as such meet solely with insentient matter.  The principle of Life & Consciousness can never be the object of Perception.

Other embodied beings seem to exist only when we ourselves seem to be embodied.  Embodiment is experienced in the states of Waking & Dreaming. These states are not permanent. They come & go in Consciousness. The experience of the one [Dreaming] corresponds exactly to the experience of the other [Waking], both being the products of Mind.

The imaginary bodies we encounter in Dreams are endowed with Life & Consciousness by the Dreaming subject.  So also, the imaginary bodies we encounter in Waking are endowed with Life & Consciousness by the Waking subject in the Waking-state. Thus the habit of attributing Life to bodies goes hand in hand with Extroversion; & the notion of a “living organism” is nothing but an objectification of the principle of Life in terms of the Senses.

A living organism is that which possesses the capacity to form conditioned reflexes. This may provide an excellent criterion for the inferences of Natural Science.  It explains nothing about the attribution of Life to foreign bodies.

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

It is basic for earnest, inward-turned, spiritual people to recognize that there is the same divine Essence in all. We may call that God, the Divine, Brahman dwelling in all, or we may refer to that by some other term. There is Divinity, God, the same Self; in all. When someone has that understanding, his focus has been lifted beyond the realm of what is differentiated to a higher view. Though still there is the idea of difference, nevertheless, there is still some supervening Truth that there is One among many. However, when the Maharshi says, “The one Self alone exists eternally”, the meaning goes much further. You can reach that further point by inquiring to thoroughly know yourself as you are.

Turning within to know the Divine, to know God, on a path of Knowledge, we refer to that which is to be known as “the Self”.  There is, then, yourself & the Self.  We hear about the Sell; or read about it in texts such as the Upanishads, Avadhut Gita, Ribhu Gita, Ashtavakra Gita, Bhagavad Gita, & similar

sacred works. We listen to & read Teachings about the Self, & we come to know it as the Infinite, the Eternal, the Unconditioned, the Limitless, the Unmodified, & the Absolute. Yet, there is oneself & the Self.  The Maharshi says, “ Are there two selves, one to realize the other ?”

When someone attempting to realize God would come to him, he would say, “Leave God alone.  Start with yourself oneself.”  The aim was not to thrust a seeker into the personal, but rather into the Impersonal by a direct inquiry into one’s own Existence.  For certainly God or the Self is far more Real than whatever Body, Personality, thought, Mind, or conglomerate of these is imagined as the Individual. The Maharshi would direct one to know oneself, one’s own actual Existence, discerning what is not the Self & relinquishing mis-identification with it, so as to abide just as the Self — the Self as oneself — in a state of Identity. After all, Self-Knowledge is all about knowing the Reality, not making something new.  It is about knowing one’s Being, not becoming something else.  It is knowing one’s identity & not being confused about it any longer.

If one sets about making an inquiry to know oneself it returns him to how he defines, or marks of himself.  In what way do you define yourself ?  Put the question to yourself  “Who am I ?”  Whatever is not truly your Existence, set aside as not being the Self as not being yourself.  Cease regarding it as your Identity.

Cease regarding the matter composing the Body to be yourself.  Now, how do you distinguish between yourself & the Self ?  The Self is unborn & undying. Without the Body you are Unborn & Undying.  The Self is without location.  Without the Body, you have no location.  Continue like this.

Set aside the ignorance of regarding the Senses as being your Identity. You are not any of the Senses. You are not a sensed thing. You are not a sensing entity.  For all those things come & go.  Existence is perpetual.  Consciousness is perpetual. The Existence, or the Consciousness, is, therefore, your Self &  not the Senses. You are not a sensing entity. The Self is unseen, or the unseen Seer of all that is seen, the unheard Hearer of all that is heard.  If you set aside the Senses, no longer falsely regarding them as your identity, you are the Unheard, the One who knows about hearing & what is heard, the unheard Hearer of all that is heard. You, yourself, are the unseen Seer of all that is seen, for you do not see yourself, just as you do not see the Self .  Yet, you are.  Furthermore, you are the One who knows when seeing occurs as well as the things seen. When they vanish, you are still there.  The Self outlasts the Senses.  You outlast the Senses.

Likewise is it with the Mind, or the collection of thoughts that we casually refer to as “the Mind”.  The Self transcends the Mind & can never be thought of by the Mind.  It is the inconceivable One, who is before, during, & after every thought. Inquire: “The thoughts are for whom ?  Who am I ?”  You, yourself, are not a thought.  Nor are you all of the thoughts put together. You are, yourself, existing before you think any thought; during the thought; & long after the thought has subsided.  Unaffected &  unchanged, your Existence continues.  Your Being alone still is as it is.  What can you think of that is actually you, that can be the final definition for yourself ?  There is no such thought.  The Self is beyond thought.  You are beyond thought.  The Self cannot be thought of.  You, yourself; cannot be thought of.  The Self is before, during, & after every thought. You, yourself, are before, during, & after every thought.

In reality, there is nothing that gives form to the Individual entity, to an Ego “I”. Remove all the form, just as we have been doing, & inquire into yourself.  What do you regard as yourself ?  With no Body, no Senses, & no thought, without even the idea of “I”, what remains of you ?  What is it that is truly you ? What has been truly you the whole time ?

What you are, you always are. What you may have assumed yourself to be, you never have been.  What you are, you always are, with no Birth, no Death, no Creation, no Desire, & no Change. What you are not is just changing nothingness, apparently created, changeful, & perishing, all of it made of as much stuff as the assumption upon which it is based –  the assumption of a separate “I”, a differentiated self – in contrast with the Self.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 83:

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Ignorance will not be eradicated except in those who, through the power of Self-Inquiry conducted assiduously within the heart, have attained the victorious absolute vision in which the whole panoply of manifestation is transcended, being seen as a mere Cinema show.

The infinite variety of false & treacherous modes of existence are merely brightly colored images appearing as if in a Mirror.  We must realize that the false & treacherous identification of the “I” with the Body is the seed from which these appearances arise to ensnare us, & we must reject it with disdain.

That which is spoken of as the Life of life itself is the true Life; That other “life” is merely the Body. That illusory knowledge mediated by the Senses is nothing but Delusion. The pure Consciousness that underlies it alone is true consciousness.

We think we live in a real, materially substantial World, & that our Minds & Bodies are real entities that move around in it. When the Self is seen & known, all these false ideas fade away & one is left with the Knowledge: Self alone exists.

There are Dream consequences for the bad acts committed in the Dream, & while you still take the Dream to be the reality, you will suffer the consequences of your bad behavior. Do no evil & have no hate. Have equanimity towards everything.

Bad thoughts make bad Dreams & good thoughts make good Dreams, & if you have no thoughts you don’t Dream at all.

Your real state is the Self, & in that Self there is no Body & no Mind.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

If it be true that objects as such are not perceived, then one’s own Body as such, being an object, is not perceived.  One’s Body is a notion, formed in the same manner as the notion of any other object. The relation between the perceiver’s Body & foreign bodies entails the Sensations that gives rise to the notion of an Object. These are nothing more than the Sense’s Sensing. And because the Senses cannot exist without the support of a Body, it follows that our notion of any foreign Body, whether animate or inanimate, depends upon the notion of our own Body.

When, for instance, we examine the Notion of any particular object, its Shape & Color are found to be inseparably connected with our Eyes. The notion is inseparably connected to its Feel, Weight & Temperature with our Skin, its Sound with our Ears, & so on.

Even to speak of its Sound, Color, or Feel is only a concession to a prejudice. For, in the actual experience, we are conscious simply of isolated Sensations. It is afterwards that we call them the attributes of an Object.

Moreover, it is our Body which provides the ultimate standard of size & situation [big, close, etc.]. We see that other people’s bodies, like our own, are notions pertaining to the particular state of mental activity which is at present being experienced.

The same conclusion has been reached by an analysis of Sensory Perception.  For the notion of a foreign Body depends upon the Notion of our own Body, whether it be the Body of Waking or of Dreaming experience.  We shall now find that the experience we attribute to others is also a Notion, in so far as its objectivity is concerned.

Common Sense relies upon the testimony of other living beings, or of man-made adjuncts [media, etc.] to the Sensory faculty, in order to prove the independent “existence” of Objects.  It takes for granted, moreover, the independent existence of the living beings, or the mechanical devices, upon whose testimony it relies.  Against the commonsense view, in total opposition, stands the metaphysical, according to which the idea that objects exist independently of their being perceived, whether they be animate or inanimate, is illusory.

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

One Self, oneself.  If this one Self is realized, all is perfect. Who realizes this one Self ?  Oneself; of course. What is it that is realized? One Self, which is oneself.

The Truth is that there is one Existence, pure unalloyed Being, which is Non-Dual. It is indivisible &  undifferentiated. If there is an absence of Knowledge regarding it, if one is ignorant of it, that one Self appears as if a multiplicity. Commencing with the notion, the barest assumption, of  “I”  as a separate Individual, all diversity spreads forth. This is not a real creation of diversity.  It is only an illusion due to lack of Knowledge of the Self,

In a verse that refers to the “Silence” of Dakshinamurti, the primordial Sage & Guru, the Maharshi, says, “The One Self alone exists eternally.” That is the Truth, with no ignorance prevailing. That is what is realized in Self-Knowledge, or Self-Realization, as we call it. If we think in terms of multiplicity, or differentiation, all of such starts with the notion of “I”.  In order to realize the Truth in your own practice on a path of Knowledge & thus experience the unalloyed Bliss & Peace of that one Self, what is necessary is to thoroughly inquire. If you thoroughly inquire to realize what you are, you will find that there is no separate Individuality, or Ego, & consequently, that there is no differentiated assortment of beings, but just one Self. How does one mark off the differences so that he can say, “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “it,” & “another” ? This is done only by mis-identification

The purpose of Satsang is for you to have direct experience & Knowledge, not only later when you meditate upon what you hear, but even now as I am speaking. So, listen & meditate. Meditatively consider for yourself how you mark off what you conceive as “yourself” & therefore, what you think of as some “other.” As long as there is a self, one among many, there will be many surrounding that one. How do you mark off yourself ?  Is it by misidentifying yourself as a Body ?  If you did liberate yourself from the “I am the Body” notion, the misidentification with the Body, how would you distinguish between “yourself” & an “other” ?  How would the concept of an “other” remain ?  Absent the concept of “other,” how would the problems that arise between “your self’ &  an “other” remain ?

How do you mark off yourself ?  Is it as a personality, which is but a conglomerate of various ideas, some of those ideas being memory, some of those ideas being present-moment thoughts, so-called personal thoughts & emotional thoughts ?  Is this one who knows all those thoughts that person ?  If you can discriminate in this manner, distinguishing clearly what the nature of the Self is, how will you differentiate between yourself & another ?

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 82:

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Through the miracle of Grace that penetrated me in the form of true all-embracing consciousness, so that the ghostly charade created by the evil Ego was abolished, I perceived that there was nothing that I needed to learn through the intellect.

The heart in which words & thoughts have subsided & which remains as the all-pervading reality in which there is no going, no coming, no contact with anything whatsoever, will overflow with the ambrosial clarity of the Supreme.

The practice of Abidance in the Self is to firmly hold the Mind in abeyance within the heart. It is not an act of thinking.

The enduring attainment is to become established in the Heart, abiding as the pure “I”, unruffled by the fierce gale whipped up by all the various branches of knowledge that are apprehended through the mind & senses, & cause us agitation.

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.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

The Senses are like so many languages, which express, in their own idiom, the un-objectified Being that is beyond the domain of expression.  The idea that objects exist independently of their being cognized.  Different people give different meanings to the word “Intuition”, the unwitting practice of Introversion which refers back all objective experience to subjective Consciousness.  It is a gift, & one which may often be developed by proper training.  It cannot be held responsible for the rightness or the wrongness of the conclusions arrived at, nor does it bear any immediate relation to the degree of scholarly or aesthetic culture acquired by persons endowed in this manner. Culture may help to prevent, but it may also lead to, false conclusions. Something more than culture is therefore needed if intuitions are not to be misinterpreted by those who have them.

The training is the practice of Introversion that forms an important part of the Vedantic method.  It helps to lead to a state where Intuition, instead of remaining fortuitous, becomes the normal pattern of experience. But this state transcends what is normally thought of as Intuition.  It may best be described as the Realization of Non-Duality.

The Body could not exist without the Senses; & the Senses require the support of a Body. The Body & the Sensory faculty are therefore inseparable.  One may observe this upon Waking, when awareness of foreign bodies is seen to be allied with awareness of one’s own Body.  The perceiver’s Body & World form an indivisible whole.

The plain man knows of Subjectivity only through his experience of objects; & the objective side of experience is Sensory.  For him, therefore, the Sensory faculty & its supporting Body seem naturally to be on the side of subjective Consciousness. This makes him think of his Body as a thing apart.  But the Body is merely an object of Consciousness, one amongst others.

Although there are probably many gifted persons who could, if they wished, follow this path, the number of those who more than anything else desire spiritual knowledge is very small. “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

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

One Self, oneself.  If this one Self is realized, all is perfect. Who realizes this one Self ?  Oneself; of course. What is it that is realized? One Self, which is oneself.

The Truth is that there is one Existence, pure unalloyed Being, which is Non-Dual. It is indivisible &  undifferentiated. If there is an absence of Knowledge regarding it, if one is ignorant of it, that one Self appears as if a multiplicity. Commencing with the notion, the barest assumption, of  “I”  as a separate Individual, all diversity spreads forth. This is not a real creation of diversity.  It is only an illusion due to lack of Knowledge of the Self,

In a verse that refers to the “Silence” of Dakshinamurti, the primordial Sage & Guru, the Maharshi, says, “The One Self alone exists eternally.” That is the Truth, with no ignorance prevailing. That is what is realized in Self-Knowledge, or Self-Realization, as we call it. If we think in terms of multiplicity, or differentiation, all of such starts with the notion of “I”.  In order to realize the Truth in your own practice on a path of Knowledge & thus experience the unalloyed Bliss & Peace of that one Self, what is necessary is to thoroughly inquire. If you thoroughly inquire to realize what you are, you will find that there is no separate Individuality, or Ego, & consequently, that there is no differentiated assortment of beings, but just one Self. How does one mark off the differences so that he can say, “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “it,” & “another” ? This is done only by mis-identification

The purpose of Satsang is for you to have direct experience & Knowledge, not only later when you meditate upon what you hear, but even now as I am speaking. So, listen & meditate. Meditatively consider for yourself how you mark off what you conceive as “yourself” & therefore, what you think of as some “other.” As long as there is a self, one among many, there will be many surrounding that one. How do you mark off yourself ?  Is it by misidentifying yourself as a Body ?  If you did liberate yourself from the “I am the Body” notion, the misidentification with the Body, how would you distinguish between “yourself” & an “other” ?  How would the concept of an “other” remain ?  Absent the concept of “other,” how would the problems that arise between “your self’ &  an “other” remain ?

How do you mark off yourself ?  Is it as a personality, which is but a conglomerate of various ideas, some of those ideas being memory, some of those ideas being present-moment thoughts, so-called personal thoughts & emotional thoughts ?  Is this one who knows all those thoughts that person ?  If you can discriminate in this manner, distinguishing clearly what the nature of the Self is, how will you differentiate between yourself & another ?

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 81:

Some disciple of Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Thoughts are the enemy of happiness !  Happiness reigns when thoughts subside! In fact, thoughts are the veil that covers over the happiness; when this veil is removed, happiness is revealed.

Where thoughts cease, happiness reigns supreme; such is the truth about happiness.  Although the thought-free state is gained & happiness is experienced for a while, such a thought-free state obtained by contact with external objects does not last long.  Therefore, it is clear that one can never achieve the thought-free happy state permanently with the help of the 5 senses.

 Whatever doubt may rise, it cannot rise without the rising of you the first to have risen — who raised it. Therefore the primal doubt, namely that of not knowing who you are, is the root of all doubts !

 Until this primal doubt is cleared, replying to your other doubts will be just like cutting the leaves off the branches of a tree, because they will sprout again & again !  But if the root is cut, they will not sprout again !

 As the gracious light of inner realization entered my heart, all knowledge acquired through learning was exposed as merely a creation of the mind & as it fell away, my consciousness — free of attributes, shining in its natural state of attachment to the Self, that shines without attachment to anything — gained its final victory as the consciousness that is absolute & all-embracing.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage

The particular nature of a Sensation is determined by the receiving organ, & not by the stimulus. Appearance as such is nothing more than the Senses.  Sensing & Sense-objects are one with Sensory Perception.

Reality is defined as that which transcends change. The immutable Reality is the Self, the Self being that single Consciousness in which the many & various aspects of objective experience come & go.  Now it is true that our Sensations are the mere masks & symbols of Reality.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

We cannot have an objective knowledge of Reality, which for us is identical with Non-Duality. The Notion of a World arises despite the fact that Objects as such are not perceived.  Objects exist only as Notions, that is to say, they exist when they are thought of & not otherwise. Now we cannot have more than a single thought at a time, although the rapidity with which thoughts succeed one another makes plain men believe the contrary.  It follows that the simultaneous existence of objects is an impossibility. But we remember our past notions & it is Memory therefore that makes us believe in the coexistence of objects.

The illusion of the simultaneous & independent existence of objects arises from the idea that we can cognize several objects simultaneously.  This is one of the many erroneous habits of thought that becloud our understanding.  Such habits will be found to play an important part, as does the nature of Memory.

We give objective experience to the notion of a World.  In this connection, Abstract thought & generalization pertain.  The notion of a World is a generalization & nothing more. Sensations are Words of a Sensory Language.  When there is no objectification of Consciousness, when in other words there is no Sensory Perception, what seemed to be an Object loses both its Sensory & intellectual attributes, remaining as the principle of Consciousness in which the Object seemed to appear.

It cannot then be called an Object; nor in reality, was there ever one, for in itself it transcended Name & Form.  When a something is cognized, something is present.  When a something is cognized, a something does certainly exist, but not as it appears. For the appearance is determined solely by the perceiver & not by the thing in itself.

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

[about the Body & about “activity”]

Become more & more certain of how you are not the Body. The whole question of being active or inactive thus dis­appears. The activity & inactivity are only for the Body. They are never for your real Self. Become more & more certain of how you are not the Body, & it will make no difference whether you are having just a little twitch during a seated Medi­tation, which you regard as still, or your limbs are very active, busy doing whatever they are doing. It is a matter of Knowledge of your Identity.

[about Identity]

When you Discern in the process of Self-Inquiry to know the Self; 3 things happen. First, you clear up the question of where Happiness is. Happiness returns to its origin. Secondly, you clear up this question of Identity. This sense of Identity returns to its origin. &  thirdly, you clear up the question of Reality, & the sense of Reality returns to its origin. When Happiness, Identity & Reality coincide within, your Knowledge is firm.

[about Detachment]

For what reason do you become attached to something? It is only because you think that there is Happiness in it. &  of course, you think that it is Real & that it has some connection with you. Usually, you think that it will endure, as well [instead of temporary as with all things]. Meditation on the Transience of objects tends to make one Detached. One is attached to something only because one is mixing up the Immortality of his own nature with the object. One thinks it will endure. As soon as one thinks about how it will not continue, Detachment begins.

Even more so, Detachment from objects comes about when one discerns where Happiness is & no longer thinks something else is going to give Happiness to him. As long as one thinks that objects, situations, & other people, or the relations with them, are going to give him his own, innate Happiness, one remains attached. When one feels that there is no Happiness in them, such are not going to give the Happiness to him, he becomes quite naturally Detached.

When one acts upon that Detachment, it is called Renunciation. Renunciation is an expression, & sometimes a con­firmation, for yourself, concerning the Detachment that has been born within. In the course of practice, everyone renounces to some degree. It depends on the seeker, though, which particular objects or things are renounced. It is not reasonable to assume that, when you become Detached from all things due to Dis­crimination, you will go on acting in the identical fashion as you did when you were in the utter darkness of Ignorance. Those activities & those objects that you associated with due to Igno­rance will be renounced. Those that were neutral, or even help­ful or beneficial to your spirituality, may remain.

If you see the Transience in Life, you become Detached. If you contemplate deeply the question about what is Happiness & what not, you become more Detached. If you see that all things are a Dream of your own mind, you become much, much more Detached.  &  if you realize who you are, you have innate Detachment, which is supreme Detachment. The greater the Detachment, the greater the Bliss. The more the attachment, the more the suffering. Suffering & attachment are the same thing.

[responding to a question as whether Detachment entails Duality]

No. In a state of attachment, there is Duality. There are you & the object.  You cling to the object, but fruitlessly so, because the object will vanish or your Body will vanish or both will vanish.  It is purposeless. While you are attached to the object, you suffer. Even though you do so in the name of gain­ing Happiness, you suffer. You suffer when the object is not there. Then, you suffer fear of its loss when it is there. That is not the way to be. That is not the Ideal State.

We speak of Detachment. It is a state of Knowledge in which you no longer confound your sense of Identity or your Happiness with that thing to which you were previously attached. Higher still, we no longer regard the thing as Real, in which case Duality has been obliterated. You must have 2 to have Duality. There cannot be a Duality in the Discernment between the unreal & the Real. The experience is that you see what is. That which is not has never come to be. There is no Duality in that. It is the resolution of Duality.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 80:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The method of Self-Inquiry is to turn the outward going Mind back to its source the Heart, the Self, & fix it ever there, preventing the rising of the empty “I”.

Inquiry is making the mind abide firm in the Self till the false Ego, Illusion’s seed, has perished.

One who has wisely chosen the straight path of Self-Inquiry can never go astray; for like the bright, clear Sun, the self reveals itself to whoso turns towards it.

Un-deluded by what ever else may come & go, unwinking watch the Self, because the little fault of forgetting for one moment once true Being as pure Consciousness brings tremendous loss.

If you refrain from looking at this or that or any other object then by that overpowering look into Absolute Being, you become yourself the boundless Space of pure Consciousness which alone is real Being.

Unbroken Self-Consciousness is the true bright path of Devotion or Love.  Knowledge of our inherent Nature as indivisible Bliss Supreme wells up his Love.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

In terms of the Senses, something no doubt has been apprehended.  But that something, in Reality, is not an Object.  That something transcends the Duality of Knower & Known.  Now the Abstraction of Sensible Qualities from a foreign Object implies that its Perceiver has, in the process, transcended the Sensible Qualities of his person.  And in the absence of Sensible Qualities both in the one & the other, it is not possible to find any difference between the Perceiver & the Object perceived.

Form stands for Sensible Qualities in general, Name for Intellectual Qualities, that is to say, for all that concerns the association of Ideas & the Notion of a specific Object [Particulars – Species, 3^rd Skandha], or kind of Objects [Abstraction or Generalization, 4^th Skandha].

We unwittingly make this Abstraction whenever we cease to be conscious of Objects, either in the interval between 2 thoughts, when a desire is fulfilled,  or in Deep Dreamless Sleep.  These considerations prove that appearances as such are nothing more than the Sense’s own Sensing. The Nameless, Formless Being is another aspect of the Non-Dual Principle of Consciousness. Non-Duality only seems to become divided into a conscious Subject & its Object.

The Oneness of the Perceiver & the Perceived involves what is commonly called a Sense-datum & its corresponding Sense-organ, between which there is an immediate & inseparable connection.  It is in the nature of the Visual faculty to manifest Shapes & Colors, of the Auditory faculty to manifest Sounds; & so on.  What we take to be an object is the Visibility of Vision, the Audibility of Hearing & the rest.  But no separate Object as such has been cognized.

Now although we habitually take the opposite view, the idea that Sensations are caused by stimuli external to the Senses, that is an illusion: Imagine the sort of World it would be if he had, instead of 5, only 4 Senses, because for example, if he had absolutely no Sense of Touch:  It would certainly not be the same World whose real existence we now take for granted.

Our notion of Objects cannot therefore be separated from the acts of Hearing, Touching, Seeing, Tasting, & Smelling.  Furthermore, analysis of Waking & Dreaming shows that when these 2 states are looked at from the vantage-point of the Consciousness, which is common to both, they are indistinguishable.  The experience of each one is a mental product.  That being so, there is at no time any stimulus external to the Senses.

Between Brain, Sense-Organs & the Outer World, a characteristic phenomenon is that of Projection. Though Sensations are appreciated as the result of changes in the brain-cells, they are felt as if taking place more remotely. Touch is projected to the Skin surface, Taste to the Mouth, while we regard Sight & Sound as coming from the surroundings.  These are, as it were, conventional delusions established in infancy. For, in fact, our Sensations are the mere masks & symbols of Reality, which is filtered through our Sensory recording apparatus.

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

[responding to an issue of “questions”]

It is natural that questions arise. That questions may come from a state of unclarity is also natural. If there were clar­ity, the question would not rise to begin with. So, questions are asked out of lack of clarity, & answers are given, for the express purpose of gaining clarity. The purpose of the spiritual instruction & dialogue is to gain the necessary clarity. The answer will be at a level deeper than that at which the question was originally formulated. A question may arise about some activity or about some particular experience. The answer, though, will always be a clarification of one’s Identity. That will remove the false stand assumed by the questioner. Thus, you find a final answer. Other answers may come along the way, but the final answer will always be one that resolves the Identity, the question of “Who am I ?”, in a deeper manner than the level at which the question was originally formulated. The practice is one of Self-Inquiry.

What is being revealed is Being. The Maharshi said, “The only responsibility of a Guru is to reveal his own Existence.” This is what he has been doing all along: revealing just that one Existence. The method used here is Self-Inquiry (vichara atma), which is the very same as the Maharshi taught for all those years on Arunachala.

This Knowledge & this Self-Inquiry are nothing new. You can see the very same enunciated so eloquently by Adi Shankara so many centuries ago. Discrimination, Detachment, the Six Essentials, & the Desire for Liberation are the means. They are being employed all the time here, or they are assumed in the course of dialogue here.

You need to Discriminate. If you do not Discriminate, or Discern clearly, between what is True & what is false, between what is Real & what is not, between who you are & what you are not, you are going to be very unhappy. If you Discriminate, that becomes the Path of Knowledge. You should become
Detached from what you have Discriminated as not-Self.  Likewise is it for the development of Tranquility, Self-Control, Renunciation, Fortitude, Faith, & Deep, profound Meditation.[the 6 essentials recommended by Shankara].

There must be the Desire for Liberation that motivates all of this. There is a seamless consistency between the Means & the End. There is a consistency between learning to Discern what is Real & what is unreal & Realizing what is Real. There is a seamless consistency between Self-Inquiry to find out “Who am I ?” & attaining Self-Realization. Likewise is it for all the aspects of the Non-Dual Teaching. One should not practice in a dualistic context while hoping for Non-Dual Truth. [It would be dualistic to have less than seamless consistency between the Means & the End.]  Rather, take the Unlimited, the Non-Dual Truth, as the basis right from the start.  Every practice is based on That, is aimed toward That, & resolves itself into That [Non-Dual Truth]. Ongoing exposure to the Teaching, just like ongoing Meditation, is recommended. To listen again & again, to reflect again & again, to deeply meditate again & again, & to be absorbed in the continuum of Knowledge within one’s Self are all important.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 79:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

As the Mind rests more & more in the Self behind it, it is more & more freed from outward imaginings; when imaginings are put away & no residue left, he, enters & becomes the Self.

The Knowledge of the Real by the Eye of clear insight is to be gained by one’s own sight & not by the Teacher’s.

If you observe Consciousness steadily, this Consciousness itself as Guru will reveal the Truth.

Instead of looking outward at Objects, you observe that looking.

The only true & full Consciousness is Consciousness of Consciousness.  Till Consciousness is Consciousness of itself, it knows no Peace at all.

True natural Consciousness which goes not after alien objects is the Heart.  Since actionless Consciousness shines as real Being, it’s joy consist in concentration on itself.

Not all not like other things unreal, but always by its being Real, the Self as permanent Awareness has no other dwelling place than its own radiant Consciousness.

The Self, our Being, is Consciousness.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

As such, Abstract Thoughts & Generalizations, objects of Consciousness are quite distinct from Introversion. An object of Consciousness may be defined as whatever can recur in Memory, for we remember only those things we have known.

But Objects as such are never actually perceived.  Sensory Perception gives us no more than the bare Sensations of Sound, Touch, Sight, Taste, & Smell: it does not present us with ready-made notions of Objects.  How from simple Sensations we form the complex notion of an external World bound by Time, Space, & Causality must be part of our Inquiry.

Regarding how the Notion of an Object arises, Sensory Perceptions give us no more than Sound, Sight, Taste, Smell, & Touch [to include all kinds of cutaneous sensations, prick, pain, temperature, touch & kinesthesia].  This Inquiry has little to do with the aims of academic Physiology & Psychology, its purpose being wholly different from that of empirical Science.  We use Sight as the most general term for Form, Shape, & Color, that is to say, for all that is Visual.

By the bare Sensations of Sound, Touch, Sight, Taste & Smell, the Perceiver is repeatedly & similarly affected by a more or less constant group of Sensations.  He then forms the notion of a specific Object [Particulars – Species, 3^rd Skandha], or kind of Objects [Abstraction or Generalization, 4^th Skandha].

For the Correlation of Sense-Objects & the Senses, .the Seen is inseparable from, & therefore 1 with, the act of Seeing.  Sound is inseparable from, & therefore 1 with, the act of Hearing.  The same stimulus may give rise to Sensations of Sound in the language of the Ears, or of Touch, Sight, Taste, & Smell in the language of the Skin, the Eyes, the Tongue, or the Nose.

But this is not to say that what stimulates Sensory Perception has any real existence apart from its being perceived.  If we abstract from our notion of an independently existing Object the Qualities our Senses have given it, its materiality & objectivity vanish & what remains is Nameless, Formless Being.

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

When you make a deep, meditative Self-Inquiry to know your Self, it does not have other things, even in the subtlest form, floating in it. There is just one’s Self, without form & without boundary. If an “I” arises, there is going to be “other.” The “other” might be subtle [mental, astral, etc.], or it might be gross [physical]. It might be other thoughts. It might be other bodies, objects, etc.

If there is an “I” [Ego version] all that may follow. The way is inward. Proceed with an inward turned Mind. What is meant by an outward turned Mind is a Mind that imagines all those things. An outward turned Mind is a Mind that becomes attached to all the outer objects it has itself imagined. So, you are advised, “Turn your Mind inward to find the Truth & to find lasting Happiness.”

An outward turned Mind is a Mind busy projecting a World within itself, much like the way the Mind functions in a Dream State. An outward turned Mind projects an “I” & a “this” & the interactions between them. The Dream State, itself, makes up all the Dream happenings, subjective & objective. In a Dream, you have inner thoughts & you have outer Sensations. Something happens in the Dream, & you have some thoughts about it, & maybe some memories about it later in the Dream. You have the inner side [dream thoughts] & the outer side [dream body]. All that is made up of the Dreaming state of Mind. The Mind functions in the same way in the Waking State. In the Dream, it seems so real. When the Dream is over, you are prepared to say that all of it is unreal. In the Waking State, the case is the same. The Mind functions in the same manner, & while the Waking State occurs, the State & its content seem like they are so real. Upon Self-Inquiry, such turns out to be not so real at all, just like the Dream happenings. An outward turned Mind means one conceiving of all of that within itself, dreaming, of inside & outside, subtle thoughts & gross Perceptions. An inward turned Mind means that which is going to the Source, to the Heart of that “I,” which is revealed not to be an Ego or an Individual, but to be Space-like & Vast, the real Being.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 78:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The Self, the home of blissful Awareness, is an Ocean vast of Peace serene. And he whose Mind turns inward & dives deep within it, gains the infinite Treasure of its Grace.

The darkness of Illusion never touches the Seer who knows his true identity as Awareness pure, vast as the Sky, bright as the Sun. Only the blind who think they are Bodies suffer from dark Ignorance.

That Heart which truly knows the Self is full of Love whence Bliss Supreme wells up for ever.

With Mind turned inward, drown the World in the great Void, dispel Illusion.  Beholding then the Void as Void, destroy the Void by drowning it in the deep Ocean of Self-Awareness.

Not in one single thing on earth can Happiness be found.  How could the Mind delude itself & think that Happiness can be derived from objects in this World ?

Perfect discernment, born of clear awakening, arises free from doubt. & pure of all  bondage, where there is no propelling power towards delusive Objects, once the division is made between the Real Natures of the Seer & what is Seen.

Transcending every visible object of Sense, fixing the Mind on pure Being, the totality of Bliss, with right intentness within &without, pass the time.

The motion of enticement to Sensual objects is the cause of World-bondage, through Attachment to what is other than Self.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

As human beings, we experience 3 States, Waking, Dreaming & Deep Dreamless Sleep.  The first 2 [Waking & Dreaming] are states of mental activity, characterized by the Duality of a conscious subject & its object.  The 3^rd  [Deep Dreamless Sleep] is a State of Non-Duality, characterized by the absence of objective experience & the continued presence of the Real Self, which may be described as Absolute Being, the Principle of Consciousness, & Peace.  The Real Self remains without modification in all 3 States [Waking, Dreaming & Deep Dreamless Sleep] but is beclouded, like the Sun, when Thoughts, Feelings & Sensory Perceptions occur.

The Real Self is not then directly apprehended, but is indirectly experienced through the sense of Personal existence, the consciousness of objects, whether these appear to be physical or mental, & desire, whose ultimate aim is always Desirelessness, that is to say, Unconditioned Peace.

These matters will be examined in the third & fourth parts of this book. Meantime, we must consider the nature of objective experience, that is to say, of Waking & Dreaming experience.  They are “prophetic”, belong to the domain of Duality & are therefore to be classed with other states of Duality.

Objective experience is a blend of Thinking & Feeling.  The nature of Feeling cannot be understood until Thought as such has been fully analyzed.  By a Thought as such, is meant the formal product of cognition, whether Voluntary or Involuntary.  Cognition is either Introversive or Extroversive, that is to say, Subjective or Objective.  Pure Introversion takes us immediately beyond mentation.  This is because a Thought & its Object, whatever that Object may be, are inseparably One.

If, for example, we turn our attention towards Absolute Existence, which is the Real Self, objectivity vanishes & the Thought merges in Non-Duality. And on the other hand, if our attention is turned towards Sensory objects, the awareness of these objects constitutes

It is with this kind of Thought that we are at present concerned. Thought is the name we give to the apparent objectification of Consciousness.  We  speak of Thoughts as though they were real entities, since plain men regard them as such.  Abstract Thought & Generalization are linked to Sensory Perception, for in order to attain Abstraction or Generalization [4^th Skandha], we must consider Particulars [3^rd Skandha]; & the actual Thought [5^th Skandha] that results is always in terms of the Senses [2^nd Skandha], no matter how Abstract that Thought may be or by what intuition it may have been arrived at.

As an example, “man” is used denote the characteristics of the human state.  But no sooner is the word apprehended than some kind of visual representation appears, however vaguely, before the Mind’s eye. Similarly, all Abstract notions, whether they refer to qualities, numbers, relations, or concepts, require the support of some object of Sensory Perception, even if it be only a symbol such as a cipher [“number”, not only zero] or a sound.  Abstract Thoughts & Generalizations are therefore the objects of consciousness.  With some people, the reaction may not be Visual, but in any case it is Sensory.

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

You have been inquiring into the Illusion for long time. It is about time to inquire into Truth. Everyone has already made a thorough exploration of the unreal. It is not necessary to do more of that. Inquire into Truth. Start with your own essential Existence.  Find out what is true about your Being. Do not halt your inquiry at things that are transient. Physical sensations are transient. Look for Truth more deeply. Your own Body is transient.  No cell in that Body has the meaning of your Life or has the Truth of your Existence contained in it. Set the Body aside as your definition, & try to find out the real Source, or Essence, of your Existence. The more deeply you proceed in this way, the more satisfied you will be. Find your Self, & it is the perfect fullness, which is something no object could ever give you. No object can give you what is actually yours.

Return to the basic Teaching that commences Self-Inquiry. You will find it at the very beginning of the Maharshi’s book, Who Am I ?  Start with the basic question, “Where is Happiness ?” Inquire, “What is the source of Happiness ?” Every being is looking for Happiness, the deep sense of satisfaction, all the time through innumerable varieties of experience. The Maharshi points out that the deepest sense of Happiness is felt in the state of Deep Dreamless Sleep in which there are no objects, no Senses, no thoughts — not even thoughts about all that which has just disappeared & not even a thought about yourself. Yet, you are happiest then. You are at Peace then. He goes on to describe That which existed in a state of Deep Dreamless Sleep as existing right now for you, while you are in the Waking State. The Existence is the same. Something else has been added. That addition has subtracted from your Happiness. So subtract, or negate, that limitation. Become keenly aware of your own Existence as it really is. That is the perfect Fullness.

Calculus for Yogis, part 16:

some other Mathematical wonder items:

Autonomic numbers:               76²  =  5776

25²  =  625      25²  = 390625

1/ 81  = 0.0123456789  0123456789 0123456789 0123456789 0123456789 …

Take any three successive Integers:  n, n+1, n+2

Add the digits to a Sum;

Add digits of the Sum to a new Sum & repeat the process.

Always end up with “6”.

The previously seen Factorials [on polynomial series] like n! grow very fast, even faster than Exponentials whose argument is positive and greater than 1 which, which in turn grow faster than most other functions.  There is one well-known approximate form for the Exponential in terms of Logarithms called the Stirling formula:

ln n!   =   n ln n   –   n    +   …

Another function yielding exponentials is the “gamma” function, given in a number of ways such as:

Γ (n)   =   (n – 1) !

Γ (z)   =   ∫ x^z–1  e^–x  dx   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

Γ (1/b) / ba^1/b   =   ∫ exp (– ax^b) dx   , taken from  0  to  ∞

Another instance, out of many, in which Factorials crop up is in elementary Probability.  The number of ways of arranging  n  things, called the Permutation of  n  things, which is given by:

            P(n)  =  n!

Taking subsets within that group & individually counting various arrangements of those subsets is called Combination of  n  things, taken  m  at a time; and this is given by:

            C(n)  =  n!/(n! – m!)! m !

A common abbreviation for that expression is:           (ⁿ_m)

Squares, Cubes etc. of “Binomials” [like ( x  +  y)  will yield Polynomials whose Coefficients are given by such Combinations.  For example, in:

( x  +  y)²  =   x²   +  2  x y   +   y²

the middle: coefficient  2   trivially gives a Combination of 2 things taken 1 at a time, whereas the understood Coefficient  1 before the first & last terms of such Polynomials gives a Combination of  n  [2]  things taken 1 at a time, & taken n  [2]  at a time.

More illustrative is the Cube of a Binomial:

( x  +  y)³  =   x³   +  3  x² y   +  3  x y²  +   y³

wherein the 3 that appears in the 2^nd & 3^rd term give the number [3] of combinations of 3 things taken 1 at a time, & then again 3 things taken 2  at a time:

( x  +  y)⁴  =   x⁴   +  4  x³ y   +  6  x² y²  +   4  x y³  +   y⁴

In the Binomial taken to the 4^th power, the Coefficients  4  appearing twice are Combinations of 4 things taken  1  at a time &  4  things taken 3 at a time.  The middle term  6  is a combination of 4 things taken 2 at a time.

Curiously these Coefficients [& Combinations] can be generated in what is called Pascal’s Triangle.  In Pascal’s Triangle the Apex is a 1 & the next row has 1 & then 1 again, juxtaposed. Thereafter, any given term in the middle is formed by the addition of the term to the upper left asses to that in the upper right. Each row again begins & ends with 1, generating the Pascal’s Triangle in this way:

                                                                         1

                                                             1                      1

                                                 1                      2                      1

                                     1                      3                      3                      1

                         1                      4                      6                      4                      1

             1                      5                      10                    10                    5                      1

1                   6                     15                  20                    15                    6                    1

It turns out that the entries are also the Combinations which can be used it again in Probability, or as the Coefficients in binomials raised to various powers, with the initial First Row [1] trivially describing the Zeroth Order Binomial [ ( x  +  y)⁰  =  1] & the 1 Combination of 1 things taken  0  or  1 at a time.   Almost as trivial is the next “First” row for the First Order Binomial ( x  +  y)¹  &  the Combination of 2 things taken  1  at a time,  & taken  2  at a time.  More meaningful is again the next “Second” row for the Second Order [squared] Binomial ( x  +  y)²   =   x²   +  2  x y   +   y²  with the Combinations described above; & so on for the Cubed Binomial, etc.

( x  +  y)³  =   x³   +  3  x² y   +  3  x y²  +   y³

( x  +  y)⁴  =   x⁴   +  4  x³ y   +  6  x² y²  +   4  x y³  +   y⁴

( x  +  y)⁵  =   x⁵   +  5  x⁴ y   +  10  x³ y²   +  10  x² y³    +  5  x y⁴  +   y⁵

 ( x  +  y)⁶    =

 x⁶   +  6  x⁵ y   +  15  x⁴ y²  +  20  x³ y³   +  15  x² y⁴  +   6  x y⁵  +   y⁶    etc

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 77:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

If without wasting time one starts & keeps up steady Self-inquiry, one’s life becomes at once ennobled, one is no more this wretched Body & there wells up within one’s heart a sea of Bliss Supreme.

Oh mind, you wander far in search of Bliss not knowing your Natural State of Freedom. Your home of infinite Bliss you will regain if only you go back the way you came.

After we have renounced whatever can be renounced, That which abides, &  cannot be renounced, is True Being shining in the Heart, the fount, the flood of Bliss.

A woman with a necklace round her neck imagines it is lost, &  After long search elsewhere touches her own neck &  there finds it; even so, the Self is here within. Probe for it there & find it.

Our Real Being, the Sun that never can see the Darkness of Illusion, knows no trace of pain or suffering. Misery is what one brings upon oneself by fondly thinking that one is the Body, not the Self.

There never is non-being for the Self which is Awareness pure. When relative knowledge ends, when false, conceptual duality is no more, the Self whose Being is Awareness does not cease to be.

When the false notion “I am the Body” dies, what abides is what’s worth having, the vast, bright, silent Void, the Self. Why is it so ?  Because in Truth the only state free from all pain & all desire is pure Self-Being. 

Bliss is the very nature of the Self.  The Self is the infinitude of Bliss.  All Being is but Bliss.  Knowing this firmly, in the Self abide enjoying Bliss for ever. .

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Even if for argument’s sake we admitted the latent existence of thought & the continued manifestation of a Waking-Body in profound Deep Dreamless Sleep, the fact remains that in order to be conscious of Sensations affecting the Waking-Body, we must already be awake.

Mental action is not continuous.  Each Thought, Feeling or Sensory Perception has a beginning & an end.  It follows that between 1 conscious mentation & another there is an Interval.  From the Dualistic point of view, the Interval will appear to be infinitesimally brief.  But in itself, the Interval transcends the notion of Time, Time being experienced only when there is mental activity.  Here there is none & so it normally escapes our attention.  If we try to think of it, the Interval will appear as a state of not-knowing.  Now this periodic suspension of mental activity is identical with Deep Dreamless Sleep, which we thus experience at every other moment, so to say, in the midst of Waking & Dreaming experience.  Non-Duality continues as the background of Duality. It may be compared to the “paper” on which “words” are printed.

Fainting-fits, catalepsy, total anaesthesia, trances in which thought subsides, & the sort of absent-mindedness resemble Deep Dreamless Sleep. That Deep Dreamless Sleep is of short duration relative to the whole period of rest.  It lasts normally from 1 to 3 hours; in the remaining period, objectivity is often present in one form or another.  It should go without saying that this reference to the duration of Deep Dreamless Sleep is valid only from the empirical [apparent] standpoint: it has no meaning from the metaphysical [theoretocal] standpoint.

Trances in which Mind is active, where visions, for example, are seen, or voices heard, no matter of what nature, & whether or not when asked what thoughts we are having, we can only say, “I wasn’t thinking of anything”, are similarly characterized by the absence of Duality.  All these are identical with profound Deep Dreamless Sleep & the Interval between 2 thoughts. Any apparent difference pertains solely to the state of Mind which preceded or followed them.

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

You fall asleep, & the body and the senses are not your concern. You still exist, but the body & senses are not your concern. Whoever was existing in Deep Dreamless Sleep is the same one who exists now. Why not become asleep while awake ?  In other words, identify with That which exists still in Deep Dreamless Sleep, unaffected by the pain ?  Your body still has the pain when you are asleep, only your Mind is not attached to it. Sleep is not necessarily an anesthetic, in the sense that it would dull the pain. It is just not in your Mind.

There is no memory of it. If you are deep asleep, memory disappears. You are not only liberated from the body & the senses, you are relieved of your memory, as well. Why not have that state even while awake ?  The one who is without memory, without time, without the body, without the senses, unafflicted by any of that, & quite peaceful in himself is the same one that dwells in you now. You need to know him.  For that purpose, there is Self-Inquiry. It dissolves the obsession with the body, the senses, the memory, & everything else that people imagine gives them so much trouble.  Inquire to know your Self, your real Existence, & you will not be obsessed with anything.  You will be at ease.

Direct experience means without an intermediary. It is not expe­rience that comes from outside.  Indeed, for one who is inquiring there comes the understanding that nothing comes from the outside.

Calculus for Yogis, part 15:

some Probability Calculus:

As in Quantum Mechanical Probabilities, we see Exponential with both Real & Imaginary arguments playing a role in ordinary probabilities such as found in the Gaussian Integral:

f (t)   =   1/ 2πi  ∫ f (x)  e^st ds   , taken from   – ∞   to   +  ∞

Furthermore the pattern of an integral of a product is seen in the Fourier transform of that Gaussian Integral:

F (s)   =   ∫ f (t)  e^–st dx   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

When   x ²  appears in the argument of the exponential, there is a surprising appearance of other Transcendental numbers such as π,.  [Another Transcendental number often comes in, one to be soon introduced.]

√π   =   ∫ exp (– x ²) dx   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

One integral of this type is the easiest of the so-called normal distribution functions, namely the Standard Normal Distribution function:

φ(x)  =  1/ √2π  exp (– ¹/₂ x ²)

More generally, the Normal [Bell Curve] Distribution function appears as:

f (x ; μ, σ ²)   =   1/ σ√2  exp [– (x–μ/σ√2)²]     with mean [average]  μ

& “Standard Deviation” [square root of Variance]  σ.

This Standard Deviation  σ  is such that outside of 0/3%, virtually all of the probable outcomes in a normal probability distribution are within 3 standard deviations.  In fact 95% are within 2 standard deviations, and more than two thirds of within one standard deviation.  Among other things a standard deviation is the distance from the central peak to the point where there is an Inflection Point of the rapidly downward falling Bell curve, as it switches from Convex Upward to Concave Upward and begins a slower Exponential decline.

When Exponentials with imaginary arguments come in, various wondrous relationships occur for Exponentials, relationships that are staggeringly simple and yet profound, and not ordinarily predictable or explainable.

e^iπ  =  – 1                    e^iπ/2   =   i

Gaussian Integrals with Imaginary Exponentials also describe Probabilities, as in:

f (x)   =   1/ 2πi  ∫ f (x)  e^{–i t x} dx   , taken from   – ∞   to    ∞

The [variable changing] Fourier Transform of Normal density f ,  mean  μ  &  Std Dev  σ

F (t)    =    ∫ f (x)  e^{–i t x} dx   , taken from   – ∞   to    ∞

=    e^{–i μ t}    exp (– ¹/₂(σt)x^b)  

The Normal Curve Probability Density function comes back into Quantum Mechanics models where the wave packets, φ(p ) compose:   ψ(x)   as an Integral over possible modes –∞ ==> ∞ , in the manner of  a Fourier Transform:

ψ(x)  =  1/√h   ∫ φ(p )e^{ipx /h} d p 

In Quantum Mechanics this “change of variables” from Distance Space to & from Momentum Space, making  x  &   p  conjugate variables as appearing in the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 76:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Those who have made the hardest sacrifice, that of the Ego, have nothing more to renounce.

Unlike the Ego which rises & sets, the true Self abides for ever the same. Turn your back on the false Ego, & so destroy it, & then shine as the one Self alone.

The true light of Awareness pure, subtle, egoless, non—objective, silent, which tires the mind & baffles it till it admits “I know not”, this is Being-Awareness, this the Self.

Here in this earthly life there is no greater good than gaining the grandeur of the Self supreme. To gain it & enjoy it, search within & first destroy the ego false & worthless.

What does one gain, you may well ask, by giving up the wealth immense of worldly pleasure & seeking only mere Awareness ? The benefit of true Awareness is the unbroken prevalence of Peace within the heart, the Bliss of one’s own natural Being.

True clearness, freedom from the mind’s ripples & shadows, this alone is ever-fresh Immortality. By this Awareness pure, by this alone & by no other means, can Death, mere Delusion, end.

Though in this false World one may live on, the ending of both “I”  & “mine” in the clarity of true Awareness void of every doubt, this only is Abidance in the Bliss of being That.

Worth pursuing is Self-Inquiry, worth enjoying is the Self’s Infinitude. Worth giving up is the Ego-sense.  To end all sorrow the final refuge is one’s Source, the Self of pure Awareness.

The deeds we do in Dream touch not our Waking life, but slip away when we awake.  Even so, our deeds done in this clouded Ego-life disappear & leave no trace when we wake up in the divine white Light of Self- awareness.

One whirls & turns, pines in sore pain in this false Dream world, till at last the sleeper in his soft bed wakes up, the bad Dream ends, one feels relieved, untouched, free as the pure white Screen. Such freedom is Self-Knowledge pure.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Unconditioned Being, Non-Dual Consciousness, & perfect Peace, the 3 characteristics of profound Deep Dreamless Sleep correspond to the 3 constituents of individual experience, namely, Life, Thought & Feeling.  But they [the 3 constituents] are no more than aspects of the real Self which must be Single [Non-Dual] & immutable.  They/ It are Single because It observes, & therefore transcends, the variety of objective experience, whenever the latter arises; & immutable because it remains unaffected by the appearance or the non-appearance of that variety of objective experience.

We could not, however, know anything about it if we departed from our Unconditioned State on “seeming” to enter the objective domain.  It follows that Non-Duality continues as the background of Duality.

An objection to our describing 1 aspect of Deep Dreamless Sleep as the state of Unconditioned Being is likely to be raised.  It is that the Mind, though in abeyance, cannot be wholly absent, for otherwise a sleeper could not be roused by Sensations.

The objection implies that what we view as Deep Dreamless Sleep, from the standpoint of Duality, is the experience of a “sleeper”, that the subject of the subject-object relationship [a necessarily “Bootstrapping“ or Dependent Origination relationship] remains, in fact, even when there is no objectivity.  The objection  assumes, moreover, that the Waking-Body persists in Deep Dreamless Sleep.

But do others not see it ?  Now other bodies, like our own, are notions that belong to the particular state of mental activity at present being experienced [the Waking-State].  If others observe some response to a stimulus in what they see as a “sleeper’s” Body or Brain, they do so as a part of their Waking experience.  They tell us so as a part of our Waking experience.

But when we are having no objective experience, there are no bodies & therefore no “others”. The objection is therefore mot valid: what seemed to be a problem is merely a confusion of standpoints.  From the standpoint of Duality, experience must always seem to be personal & thus to be connected with someone’s Body; but from that of Non-Duality, there is no Personality & consequently no “sleeper” & no sleeping-Body. The objection is refuted.

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

That which truly is never ceases to be; that which ceases never actually is.

That which truly exists never changes; that which  changes never truly exists.

That which is  changeless is without destruction; the  indestructible is only that which is without creation.

The Unborn is the  undying; the unchanging is alone Being which never changes its nature. The Self ever is just as it is.

There is no time when Being is altered. There is no time when you are not the Self.

Immutable Being is Peace itself.  Being alone knows itself, the “I”-less “I” realized as “I”, forever undefined, the only Existence, the only Knowledge, the only Knower.

Thus is Brahman, Absolute Reality, always present, unmarred  perfection, the unformed Void, attribute-less Being, ever itself just as it is. The only identity, only  Reality, Being alone knows itself.

[more “Calculus for Yogis” is forthcoming]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 75:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Unless, by one means or another, Mind dies out & certitude from true Self-recognition comes, the knowledge which mere learning brings is like the horse’s horn unreal.

When Ego ends, then one becomes a devotee true; when Ego ends, one becomes a knower too; when Ego ends one becomes Being supreme. When Ego ends, Grace fills all Space.

Since every vice springs from the false pleasures of swerving from the Self, the plentitude of virtue is the perfect Peace of pure Awareness following the end of the Ego which is by such false pleasures fed.

When the Ego-life dissolves & dies in Silence, then one lives the Life Supreme of Pure Awareness. When the false Ego, dream-like, fades into its source, the true Self rises of its own accord.

Great Knowers recognize no other Bondage than the rising movements of the Mind & they find true release nowhere but in the total death, leaving no trace behind, of every movement of the Mind.

The false Dream ends when we wake up. Even so, the Ego dies when the Sun, the true I, rises. Ego’s destruction by strong Self-inquiry is what is known as Self-attainment.

Only for those free from all sense of Doership the bliss of tranquil peace shines pure within. For the Ego proud is the sole evil seed whence spring all known calamities.

Whether one is or one is not engaged in work, one gains the state of non-action only when the Ego with its proud delusion “I am the doer” has died & disappeared.

The bright Awareness, our true Being, is the sole Truth the Heart should cherish. The triads we perceive should be despised & driven away as dreams created by the treacherous mind.

Beside the Self nothing in truth exists. But then the deep Delusion that the Body is oneself makes one let go the solid, non-dual Bliss of Immortality & fall into Birth & Death.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

Deep Dreamless Sleep may best be defined as that state in which the seeming duality of subject & object has disappeared.  Its negative characteristic is the absence of mental activity, a term that includes thinking, feeling, & Sensory Perception.  From its own standpoint, however, Dreamless sleep must be positive, for we cannot experience mere negation: & then the absence of mental activity is not its true characteristic.  It follows that when we talk of Deep Dreamless Sleep, of the absence of mental activity, & say upon Waking that we slept soundly & knew nothing, we are viewing it solely from the standpoint of duality, by comparison with which sleep is a state of not-knowing.

It follows, moreover, that none of the positive terms that apply to our Waking & Dreaming experience can be applied literally to our experience of Deep Dreamless Sleep.  There are, nevertheless, three positive aspects of Deep Dreamless Sleep, the knowledge of which will enable us to recognize its true nature.

The first relevant aspect of Deep Dreamless Sleep appears plainly from the fact that we do not cease to exist when asleep, though all objective, individual experience has vanished.  It must be this:  profound Deep Dreamless Sleep, in itself, is the state of Unconditioned Being. In Dreamless sleep there remains a principle transcending qualities or accidents, these pertaining to objectivity.

The second relevant aspect of Deep Dreamless Sleep follows from the fact that on Waking  we are conscious of having slept soundly, though absence as such can never be experienced.  It must be this: profound Deep Dreamless Sleep, in itself, is the state of Non-Duality. The principle of Consciousness remains.  If I place a pen in the palm of my hand & ask someone to tell me what he sees, he will answer that he sees a pen.  Suppose now that I put the pen down & again ask him what he sees.  In 9 cases out of 10, he will answer, “Nothing”, when in fact he sees the palm of my hand. So is it with Deep Dreamless Sleep.

One seems to assume the duality of a conscious subject & its object. The third relevant aspect of Deep Dreamless Sleep is proven by the confidence with which we look forward to the enjoyment associated with sound Deep Dreamless Sleep; & also by the feeling of an actual deprivation when we suffer from insomnia. It must be this: profound Deep Dreamless Sleep, from its own standpoint, is the state of Self-contentment. When desire & the objects of desire have vanished with the cessation of mental activity, what remains is the positive import of desirelessness.

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

Immortality is complete Happiness, for the essence of both is the same, & only that which is unending is complete. The transitory is not complete, & that which is Suffering is not Eternal. The Realization of the Self is blissful Immortality. It is Abidance in & as That which has no beginning or end. The desire for Happiness & Immortality are the same. They come from the same intuition of Truth of the Self. Only Abidance as the Self, which is the Reality, fulfills both.

The Self is That which has no beginning or end & is That which is Real or truly existent. The Self is changeless. Whatever has a beginning or a change & an end is unreal. The “being unreal” may be understood as being utterly non-existent, or as the Existent entirely mis-perceived. To experience blissful Immortality, one must realize the Existence of the Self as it really is; one must abide as the beginningless & endless, as the changeless. The Knowledge of the Self is the Knowledge of the Eternal, the unchanging, & the completely blissful. It is the Knowledge of Reality. This is the only true Perception. To see anything else is to see the non-existent. That is Ignorance. Ignorance is composed of assumptions & superimpositions. It is the non-perception of Reality & the mis-perception of Reality. That displays itself as the non-seeing of Real, Non-Dual Being & the hallucination of Duality or Multiplicity. The knowing of anything, be it gross (physical) or subtle (mental, etc.), without the Knowledge of the Self, is simply diversified Ignorance, or diversified Illusion. In the Knowledge of Reality of the Self, there remains neither Multiplicity nor Duality, nor anything else.

One Formless Existence is with no differentiation whatsoever. One Formless Existence appears as if it were all this multiplicity. All the multiplicity is only the one Formless Existence imagined as such.

To realize the Truth, for the Truth to be Self-revealed, one should abandon Ignorance, multiplicity, the transitory, & the illusion of form, & abide as the Formless, which is Real, Non-Dual, & ever-existent. This Abidance is Knowledge. The destruction of Illusion means the destruction of Ignorance regarding the Self, or the destruction of mis-identification. Such is the destruction of Suffering & the end of Death. This is blissful Immortality. It is simply the vanquishing of Ignorance. By the Truth being revealed within, mis-identifications, or superimpositions are destroyed. By the destruction of mis-identifications, or superimpositions, Truth is revealed within.

[more “Calculus for Yogis” is forthcoming]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 74:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Pure Being, our Self-nature, That alone exists eternally. Apart from That, all objects we perceive are clusters of illusive appearances that come & go, while That, unmoving & unchanged, abides the same forever.

Ignorance will not be eradicated except in those who, through the power of Self-Inquiry conducted assiduously within the heart, have attained the victorious absolute vision in which the whole panoply of manifestation is transcended, being seen as a mere Cinema show.

The infinite variety of false & treacherous modes of existence are merely brightly colored images appearing as if in a Mirror.  We must realize that the false & treacherous identification of the “I” with the Body is the seed from which these appearances arise to ensnare us, & we must reject it with disdain.

That which is spoken of as the Life of life itself is the true Life; That other “life” is merely the Body. That illusory knowledge mediated by the Senses is nothing but Delusion. The pure Consciousness that underlies it alone is true consciousness.

So long as one retains a trace of Individuality, one is a seeker still, & not a true seer effort free, even though one’s penance & one’s powers may be wonderful indeed.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

We require no more time to think of any particular event in the Waking state than we do to Dream of it.  But if we can thus divide the Waking-state into thinking & the Perception of tangible objects, we must apply the same distinction to the Dream-state, for to the Dreaming subject, his experience is also one of Waking, divisible in the same manner, with 2 distinct standards of time. Thus, there is no necessary variance between thinking & Dreaming as regards our experience of Time.

These considerations have helped to establish the equivalence of thinking & Dreaming: both are states of mental activity.  If any difference in detail can be discovered, it is no more than the difference between one mode of thought & another.  We have seen that thinking, feeling & the Perception of tangible objects are activities common both to Waking & Dreaming experience, each being viewed from its own standpoint.

But on entering the Waking-state, a Dream is found to have been a mental product in every one of its aspects; & yet to the Dreamer the so-called Dream-state was one of Waking.  What reasons have we to suppose that the present Waking-state is anything but a mental product, just like a Dream ?

Tangible objects have no independent existence. They exist as notions in the perceiver’s Mind; & thus between Mind & Matter the distinction is unreal, as it is also between the thought & the Perception of a tangible object.  To be awake has no meaning & there is no Waking-state: it is all a Dream.  But a Dream, so called only from the standpoint of an inexistent Waking-state, is also a misnomer.

Look at Dreaming & Waking from the vantage point of the single, immutable, & conscious Self which pervades & illuminates all our objective experience.  There being no essential difference between one state of objective experience & another, one term serves equally to describe all states in which the Mind is active.

Waking & Dreaming are states of mental activity, whose characteristic is the presence of a knower & a known, or a thinker & a thought, the one being conscious of the other.  Mental activity is therefore to be defined as the state of Duality, the Duality of Subject & Object, Seer & Seen.

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

Observing Life & Death, those who desire to be free of Death should seek the immortality of the Self, using that same desire be free of Death to find Liberation. Find clarity regarding the desire to endure, & thus turn this innate desire into the desire for Self-Realization. This Realization alone can fulfill that innate desire. Those who perceive mortality, feel the urge to find something that does not die. They recognize that everything in the World is perishable. Therefore what they seek must be found within in a way that transcends what is physical. They see that it is futile to be attached to that which is only going to pass away sooner or later, so seek spirituality for immortality. This immortality is to be found in the Self. Abidance as the Self is Knowledge of the Self. An Inquiry into the knowledge of Immortality reveals that Bliss & Immortality are the same & that both are realizable by Knowledge.

As a result of comprehending the Non-Dual Teaching, one is liberated from the illusory connection to the Body & what is mortal. The fusion of the desire for Happiness & the desire to exist results in one being endowed with a singular focus upon Self-Realization. This enables one to practice the Inquiry to know the Self with the power of undistracted

Fullness & Perfection, the unceasing Bliss, reside in That which neither rises nor sets, which neither begins nor ceases. The experience of Happiness is connected with the desire for Eternity. No one desires a Happiness that will cease. Rather, the desire is for Happiness that will not cease & is forever. The desire for Immortality is as strong as the desire for Happiness. The 2 are inextricably woven together. Just as no one wishes to be unhappy, so no one wishes to cease to exist, though one may wish objective appearances, such as the Senses, the Body, & the Thoughts to cease. All with to continue forever. This is an intuition of the true nature of Existence.

The desire to exist cannot be fulfilled externally in bodily forms. The true state of Being, when it is unrealized & delusion is present, manifests as the desire for this or that to last. Realized, the Self itself is the un-born & the un-dying. The Self abides in the state of imperturbable Peace, completely detached & non-dependent on anything else. The Self is transcendent of the entire Universe for all Time. The desire to endure springs from the deepest & it is fulfilled solely by realizing the deepest, which is the eternal Existence of the Self.

[more “Calculus for Yogis” is forthcoming]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 73:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Know that these countless things are pictures in a Dream & none is real apart from the beholder. Shun this phantom World of names & forms & dwell in the pure, blissful being of Awareness.

One forgets the Self & thinks the Body is oneself & goes through innumerable Births & in the end remembers & remains the Self.  Know this is only like awaking from a Dream wherein one has wandered all over the World.

Destroying through Discrimination the basic error that I am the Body, an object, & rejecting it & the World as mere mirages false, the Awareness that surviving shines alone as Being, That am I.

When one now deeming oneself the Mind & wandering lost amid phenomena, wakes up from this Dream-spectacle & remerges in the Self & stands as That, this is the inwardness of Yoga true.

The Universe out there appears when scanned.  But when not scanned, it disappears. Turning away from this, search keenly for the Self within the heart, & think no more of birth.

Seen through the eye of our true Being which is Awareness pure, Supreme, what we call “Birth” is but the folly of thinking that one is the Body which forms a poor part of this entirely false phenomenal World.

Until the Snake-illusion goes, its ground, the real Rope, will not be recognized.  Until the World of false phenomena disappears, the Self, its ground, will not shine clear.

Based on the Teachings of a great Sage:

The Waking-state is commonly held to consist of thinking & feeling in the presence of tangible objects. Tangible objects are perceived through the 5 organs of Sensory Perception.  These organs we shall call collectively the bodily Senses.

The Dream-state, from the standpoint of the Waking, consists only of thinking & feeling.  But the Dreamer has no idea that he is dreaming, for according to his experience, tangible objects are also perceived. Thus the Dream-state is definable in exactly the same terms as the Waking.

When we compare the 2 states, each being viewed from its own standpoint, no difference can be found.  A difference appears, however, when we consider Dreams from the standpoint of Waking, according to which Waking alone is a real experience.  On Waking, we know that the Dream-world, together with the Dream-Body whose Senses perceived it, were products of the Mind. The question then arises whether the Waking-man’s thoughts & the Dreamer’s whole experience are not equivalent.

Thinking is supposed to differ from Dreaming on several scores, notwithstanding our knowledge that both are mental.  First, Dreams are said to derive, & not to be distinct, from Waking experience.  If so, this would apply equally to the thoughts that occur in the Waking-state.

Second, some Dreams are said to derive from a latent store of impressions which contemporary Psychology calls the Subconscious Mind. Granting the existence of a Subconscious Mind, so do some thoughts.

Third, the Dream-Body & the Dream-Mind are said to do or think things the Waking-Body & the Waking-Mind cannot. This is true in respect of bodies but not in respect of thoughts.  I can imagine, as I may Dream, that my Body is flying.  I can imagine that I meet & talk with the dead or with people unknown to me in my Waking experience; & that these are events in this or in other Worlds & in this or in other eras, just as I may Dream that they are.  Moreover, I can imagine, as I may Dream, that my Body is in another condition of health & age, or that my Mind is differently disposed in one way or another.

Fourth, while thinking in the Waking-state may appear at times to be deliberate & at others involuntary, Dreaming, from the waiter’s standpoint, must always appear to be involuntary. This is a confusion, for if the Dream-state is entered involuntarily, so is the Waking-state.  But in Dreaming as well as in Waking, we may seem to choose our thoughts.

Fifth, it is supposed that events occurring in Dreams would occupy less time than similar events if they occurred in Waking experience.  This is to equate the standard of Time in our Perception of tangible objects to that in our thinking about them when there.  From the standpoint of Consciousness, what is not now its Object does not now exist.  Subconscious Mind can only be regarded as a contradiction in terms.

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

As long as there is the notion of “I”, there will be the conception of “this.”  Between “I” & “this,” all Illusion spreads out.  How do you determine “this”, whatever “this” is ?  You determine “this” by the position of “I”.  Know yourself as you are.  What you are is Invariable.  All of the time, there is the sense of Existence & the intuitive knowledge of it.  What, though, do you attribute to that Existence ? What is superimposed upon it ?  How is that Existence Mis-identified & keeps changing ?  In Ignorance, one does not notice that Existence & so one takes the changeful Form to be the unchanging Reality.  True Self-Inquiry clears that up.  Without bringing any new attainment, or producing something, which would then decay & perish, Self-Inquiry reveals what is Real.

What is Real ever is, & what is unreal never is.  The great, deep Silence of the Maharshi, & in ancient times, of Dakshinamurti, is a revelation of just that — “the Reality ever is.”  If we need to explain more: ‘The unreal never is.”  The Silence is indicative, in an overpowering way—overpowering because there is nothing other than it—that there is nothing than it & that there is just one solitary Kaivalyam [aloneness], just one Existence, just one Brahman, or the Real Self

Ideas that “take you out of Meditation” do not “come back”, but rather you conjure them up maintain them. You can also take them [the “Meditation-derailing” ideas] down. You lend them their reality. Otherwise, not only would they be of no effect, but they would cease to exist for you.  Binding, delusive thoughts would not only not matter, they would cease to exist, if the Mis-identification, which prompted such bewildered ways of thinking, would cease to exist.

If you Mis-identify, you become accustomed to a certain pattern of thinking, a certain tendency, or Vasana [karmic residual Tendency]. If you dis-identify, having cut off the root, where will the rest of the vasana-plant be ?  If there is no seed, there is no sprout.  If you take away its birthplace, it [Vasana – karmic residual Tendency] will not grow.

What the Maharshi is talking about when he talks about the Pearl Diver who must Dive Deep, down to the root, in the Sea, is to go deep into your Self.  Find what you are Mis-identifying with, & Inquire to see if that is Who you really are.  When you are reading the scriptures, old texts, & sayings of the Maharshi—some source of deep Wisdom—your Mind is lifted out of all of that, is it not ?  Is it just a change of superficial thought or does something else occur ?

Something deeper than just a change of superficial thought occurs.  Look in & at the Self, looking as the Self.  So, you are looking to the Self, or as the Self or both. There is a depth regarding the nature of your Identity. Later, something [a Vasana – karmic residual Tendency] intervenes.  It is not given to you.  You conjure it up. It is not by accident. See what it is that you conjure up. Trace it to its root.  Dissolve the root by Knowledge. It is not merely your Body becoming active or going about your daily affairs that causes Ignorance.  However, the idea that you have daily affairs [& a Body] might be worthwhile questioning, because the “I” that has daily affairs & the “I” you are finding when you are reading Ribhu Gita or reading the Maharshi or reading some other Text or Scripture are not the same “I” are they?  Yet, there is only One of you.  You are not a plurality. Determine What you are.

[more “Calculus for Yogis” is forthcoming]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 72:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

The World, like Snake in Rope, thief in a Stump, Mirage in air, has no real existence. Seeming to be, mere appearance, is its nature.

The World that hides the Self is but a Dream. When the phenomenal World is hidden by the Self’s bright light, Awareness pure, the Self, abides.

The nature of this Mind-created World, now seen in Dream-light dim, is truly known only in that bright Being-Awareness which transcends the Mind’s illusion.

Some assert, “This World before our eyes lacks permanence, ’tis true but it is real while it lasts.” We deny it saying, “Permanence is a criterion of Reality.”

Some argue, “Though divisible & split up into parts, the World we know so well, how could it be unreal ?” We refute it, saying, ”Wholeness too is a criterion of Reality.”

The Wise can no how deem as real a World divided & destroyed by Time’s wheel. Whole, eternal, perfect, ever-shining & transcending Time & Space, such is the nature of Reality.

Only mad folk perplexed because they deem the false World to be real find joy in this illusion. The truly Wise find joy in nothing but Awareness which is Being.

What is the Self’s self-transformation as the World ? A twist of straw appearing as a snake ? Look hard, you see no snake at all. There was no Transformation, no Creation, none, no World at all.

Did the Self lapse from its own wholeness as Being, you ask, “How else did this World come to be ?” It came from Ignorance false. The Self can never suffer any change at any time.

Vast, whole, immutable, the Self reflected in the Mind’s distorting mirror may appear to move. Know that it is the image moving, the true Self never moves or changes.

How can the dark, delusive sense of separateness affect the Self which is Non-Dual? It is the Mind’s divisive vision which sees difference. Awareness knows no separateness at all.

Those who forget the harm the false World there before us does, & cling to it as real & comfortable, mistake, alas, a floating bear for a boat only to be crushed & drowned in the Sea of Birth.

Fine-Tuned Universe 52:

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

For:     [U]   =  a Universe

[E]   =  our Existence

[I]   =  our Intelligence

The single data-point of our Presence does not allow us to choose between the 2 Speculations. On the other hand, we might have effectively “zeroed-down” that “lo”– to vanishingly small, which is to effectively to cast a Contra-Positive of the original generic Hypothesis:

n– [I]–[U]   ==>  n–[I]–[E]

But that Conclusion is contradicted by the simple fact of our being here so such a Contra-Positive could NOT hold True. Converting this back to the original again, which must be equivalent, suggests that:

[I]–[E]   ==>  [I]–[U]

is similarly False. But our statements concern Truths rather than Falsehoods, & loosely at that, & yet even this reasoning is suggestive of the disconnect between our single data-point & any Universal conclusion. [Contra-Positives can be less intuitive, like double-negatives, but they can clarify some vague issues. Our Presence suggesting Life elsewhere “sounds” reasonable. But if we check the Contra-Positive we see that no failure to find Life elsewhere will ever convince US that We do not exist. Therefore, we best be cautious about using our Presence to imply Life elsewhere any further than that it “could happen.” Further examination then must focus on whether necessary conditions in the Universe are hard to come by, & how hard,]

Bostrom further extends this issue by multiplying our single data-point by an (even larger) finite number of other earthlike planets in the Universe with intelligent life. To consider 1^st a weakly informative scenario, he conceives of widespread telepathic ability (which some actually attribute to plants*[1] on a cosmic level). Putting out the “call” we hear back, just as SETI might by more conventional radio waves: “yes intelligent life has evolved here.” The quality of that new information would improve if we could count the Number of planets so responding, or ever able to respond. But once more we are only hearing from the “winners” and not from perfectly earthlike planets in vast numbers who may be without Intelligent Life.

On the other hand again, if all telepathic or radio respondents specifically affirm somehow that that their planets are actually earthlike, & none of a larger sample replied affirming other planet-types, then more again is learned. With increasing numbers involved in the latter versions, we could begin to Probabilistically rule out intelligent life evolving on non-earthlike planets.

LP Epistemically Illuminated Regions:

When the Philosopher examines Anthropic Principles he may specify some conceptual boundaries, or at least some terminology not always included in a Physicist’s discussion. For one thing, the Philosopher seeks to determine in each case an Epistemically illuminated region within the possible or conceivable range of some parameter value. For instance, to take a simple example, Temperature. How hot, or how cold must it be. to rule out the possibility of Life as we known it (which does admit some extremes) & in what narrower range Intelligent Life (being of necessarily greater complexity however it is configured)? In fact, an Intelligent Life–Permitting range is usually the only one of immediate interest (evolution of simpler forms could hold promise for the Future, should conditions, like Temperature, also change over Time so as to enter the narrower Intelligent Life–Permitting range). But since the former, more immediate & narrow case of Intelligent Life–Permitting is a big enough conundrum to bite off & chew for now, Intelligent Life–Permitting is actually the default sense in which Life–Permitting or LP is generally meant.

Then, an Epistemically illuminated region in terms of LP further specifies the limits of our knowledge & imagination, especially if we admit Silicon-based, Boron-based, Nitrogen-based, & other conceivable but not necessarily feasible modes of Life, along with Carbon-based variations now familiar. Strong arguments tend to rule out all but Carbon-based or C-based Life reaching the complexity of LP as in Intelligent Life–Permitting. But these are all issues in setting the confines of an Epistemically illuminated region within the range of a given Parameter. One practical detail concerns LP Physical Constants that we are already aware of. For familiar C-based Intelligent Life, just what do we observe as some finite local region around actual value of Constant that is observed? Do we see a finite region of possible variance, & finite regions of actual & tolerable variance already observed? For instance, if we see as LP the Celsius Temperatures between – 50 to + 50 hypothetically, we might also imagine a wider  possible range of say – 55 to + 60. All numbers being purely hypothetical values, those were chosen for simplicity. Robin Collins, (theistic) Philosopher, divides Anthropic Principles into 3 broad categories &and rules on their viability after considerable philosophical & scientific argument, these being:

(1)  Intelligent Design Argument, be it Theistic, some more abstract Deist principle of Nature, etc., or attributable to aliens, Future time-travelers, or VR – and such Design (for short & to distinguish from less rigorous religious-political uses of the same term) That Argument is defensible on its own terms (one cannot simply unilaterally declare a Physicalist Universe & dismiss dissent – although that is the norm rather than the exception throughout Philosophy & Science).

(2)  Ensemble Argument, of a kazillion universes (as isolated regions of 1 Infinite or virtually so) Universe, or as a Multi-Verse. Universes “bubbling off” an M-brane & other exotic bootstrapping appear in some models. Cosmogenesis deriving Quantum Fluctuations, Quantum Many-Worlds, or a serial sequence of alternating Big-Bangs & Crunches echoing across essentially beginningless & endless Time. Any such Ensemble Argument is defensible, however fantastic, because any Long Odds will come home to roost eventually if you bet endlessly. Our 13.7 Billion year Universe may be old enough to support Cosmic & Biological Evolution, or not. But the number of bets taken in any of these Ensemble Arguments render Cosmic & Biological Evolution trivial by comparison, to say the least. If a Cray Super-Computer should attempt to electronically “write”, in conventional decimal form, the number of Eons needed to count the Kazillion–Universes in such an Ensemble, the poor machine could not even scratch out a beginning in a Universe-life-so-far of 13.7 Billion years for instance. The numbers of Universes discussed are so fantastic that it may well be hubris to take this projection in stride. And yet the same decry any admission of Deity, Consciousness, or even Mind as so far, far more fantastic as to be rejected out of hand. But so again is it throughout Philosophy & Science, with the typical “proof” being: just look at how dumb  &  inconsistent are the Fundamentalist Christians. Is that a complete Argument?

(3)  Brute Chance Argument, being the off-handed dismissal of both Design  & Ensemble Arguments as needless hypotheses. Something had to happen, & the way things came out is the way things came out, period, Long Odds be damned. These adherents just have to include some great customers for the convenience-store Lottery ticket sales. Robin Collins for one, goes at length to rule Brute Chance or Brute Fact as he calls it. He later argues at length against Ensembles, an arduous effort we will only touch base with here. If his narrowing the field of 3 categories to the 1 category of Design should hold water, then one last rhetorical questions remains. What’s more fantastic, aliens, Deist-Theist-Consciousness based Design alternatives, Time-travelers, or Future VR Sim  programmers?

Details to follow soon later on, but suffice it for the moment to say that Surprisingness in the Bostrom sense depends for one thing on Relative Fine-Tuning or Selection of LP parameter values when the allowed Range is divided by the entire plausible or possible range. Temperatures in the Universe, for instance, vary enough that it is fair to say that Earth is currently Fine-Tuned in LP Temperature as might numerous other Earth-like and possible LP planets. So here with Temperature we have Fine-Tuning but no great Surprisingness in itself. But Surprisingness further relies on compounded probabilities (like the cheating gambler who will 11 consecutive Lotteries). Temperature Fine-Tuning then may play a component role in an immense chain of compounded probabilities that is Surprising enough to “demand an Explanation (Design or Ensemble, since Brute Chance is just the denial of that “demand” for Explanation). Flipping a Heads, H on a Coin-Toss is not Surprising, being 50%, but the compounded probabilities of an Octillion H’s in a row could be found to have the Surprisingness on 1 Chance in a Kazillion (of course an artificial term for an unthinkably large number).

However, if some other Parameter, let us say allowable magnetic field for the sake of discussion, exhibited an LP Range that was ¼ ^th of its total possible Range [none of this hypothetical really makes sense] then Surprisingness drops put right there on the issue of Relative Range even if the actual or Absolute Range happened to seem very small (plus or minus a few micro-webers or whatever). This hypothetical Parameter could then be dropped from the Fine-Tuning discussion, even as a relatively significant component of compounded probabilities, & so it is for ever so many LP characteristics we might conjure up in our imagination. But then after all the weeding out of the irrelevant, compounded probabilities & Surprisingness of Fine-Tuning for LP Parameters remains remarkable, to say the least.

Bland & Restricted Principles of Indifference:

Bland Indifference can describe the “living in denial” categorized within Psychological Compartmentalization, which in the extreme is the Borderline Psychotic defense against Cognitive Dissidence or disturbing contradictions encountered in Life. As Nick Bostrum used the terms when discussing his Sim-Arg, the Principle of Bland Indifference has another statistical meaning related to the Conclusion of the Subject in Leslie’s Gender Scenario where the Female places her bet with the bigger numbers, regardless of other considerations. If a given century involved 5,000 Females (vs. only 3) in the Project, than Odds are, she lives in that century. This allegiance to the numbers, no matter what, is her Bland Indifference, so to speak.

Generally, by the Bland Indifference Principle we should reason such that if we don’t have any Information that indicates that our own particular experiences are any more or less likely than other human-type experiences, then these experiences should be dismissed from the Reference Class in determining our Credence about a given Probability [a neo-Copernican principle].  furthermore, that Credence generally equals the sheer Probability Numbers, if lacking special detailed information.

[That’s why it looked like the Credence version of the 3 Bearded Men scenarios looked that same as the earlier Probability-based. They were the same. It was a needed repeat but only with the Credence instead of the Probability. Added was the note that New Information could temper the Credence or Belief, thus distinguishing it from Probability. Credence held more promise for fixing the Adam & Eve paradoxes, which scenario compares to some Anthropic Principle  issues.]

One common retort would be the Napoleon Case for instance. No matter how many crazy people think they are Napoleon, Napoleon’s own grounds for thinking he is Napoleon are different, & the existence of those crazy people shouldn’t undercut his self-confidence. The Bland Indifference Principle suggests that if 1 Million crazy people have thought they are Napoleon, and if hypothetically Napoleon knows this statistic, then Napoleon himself should only believe he is Napoleon with a Credence of 1 in a Million. But to be less “bland” in one’s “indifference” for Napoleon is to recognize his uniquely special reasons for confidence in his self-identity (memories, peer agreement, etc.) & rely not just on Numbers.

The whole gamut of Credence “re-consideration” arguments included in Bostrom’s monographs can be readily turned around to support Solipsism, Design, & even “re-consideration” of one’s true Non-Dual Identity. Furthermore, within the Sim-Arg   & Anthropic Principles themselves, numerous thought-provoking surprises can tend to awaken the Mind from its diurnal sleep-walk called the WakingState

In any case, Robin Collins speaks similarly in terms of a Restricted Principle of Indifference which has the same egalitarian democracy of Numbers, all in an acceptable range being deemed equally probable. But if we have other Information (like Napoleon has) to prefer certain Numbers or ranges, we can modify our position. Whether it be arguments by Bostrom or Collins, the net result of this or these principle(s) is to display due diligence against Special Pleading, & instead to favor Objectivity & conservative limits. When still making the Argument within these bounds, the Conclusion is all the more convincing. Various other good points are made by Collins (& of course other authors as well), just one other for now, being his refutation of blanket Agnosticism applied to Anthropic Principle issues.

Collins reminds the reader that Agnosticism can be claimed when one has “no idea” regarding the Probabilities, & not just obvious ignorance of the precise, specific value of a given Probability [or because the claim is convenient]. Both Collins & Bostrom, & others speak in terms of Credence & less-than (<)  &  greater-than (>) inequalities where landslide quantities allow reliable estimation of over-whelming likelihood or un–likelihood. The general range of Probabilities has to be well known as quite vast in these cases. There remains no comfort-zone of Agnosticism here. One must pick a side: Design, Ensemble, or Brute Chance. [And to clarify the obvious for the unfamiliar reader: Ensembles of Kazillions of Universes are “necessary” for the logical [vs. illogical Brute Chance] Scientific Realist. One can only believe super-incredible Coincidence is “coincidence” with a whole lot of Tries available.]

[1]   Secret Life of Plants  –  from earlier studies, speculations, and claims over recent centuries by Jagdish Chandra Bose, George Washington Carver, and Corentin Louis Kervran, a skeptical retired detective, Grover Cleveland Backster (Cleve Baxter as it is sometimes misspelled) had turned amateur “botanist” when applying his Polygraph equipment to Plants in a small Lab he ran in the suspicious locale of Times Square (ala Nikolai Tesla, the “mad scientist” before him) and like Tesla (not associated with plants but only with Times Square), Jagdish Chandra Bose, George Washington Carver, and Corentin Louis Kervran, Baxter was “buried” in cynical criticism and laughter. Soviet Scientists did considerably more of this same research, and Japanese research institutes did much more. All of the foregoing named (except Tesla) claimed unassailable evidence that Plants, at some distance, telepathically responded to Human emotions and even thoughts, in their own electrical  “emotional” responses, as if responding to the tome (the “vibes”) of those Human emotions and thoughts without necessarily dissecting detailed meaning. Most recent “advances” in this area have Archeologists , ascribing to a few diverse ancient cultures the use of certain Plants to telepathically communicate with “other star systems” and perhaps “other galaxies.” All of this is left without comment for the reader’s perusal if interested, with the disclaimer of any other judgment or opinion here. We have bigger fish to fry here and try (sometimes unsuccessfully) out of controversial, incredible topics without direct relevance. Picking other battles and moving on we will try to side-step ESP. Parapsychology. UFO’s, Conspiracy theories, and politics in general. The taint of the Plant story likely deprived (along with the same racism that greeted Carver) Jagdish Chandra Bose from a Nobel Prize for his other eminent work. Let’s go one further and dare ourselves to just look at Soviet and US Parapsychology research supporting very unpopular hypotheses that Human thoughts and emotions can, at a distance, affect Petri-dish Cells, Ice crystals, and Minerals. (???)

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

In the book, Who am I ?, the Maharshi points out this fact regarding the Self. At the commencement of the text, alter describing the negation of every kind of mis-identification — starting with the Body, including Prana or Life Energy, & proceeding to the Mind & all else — he says, “The Awareness that remains is of the nature of Being-Consciousness-Bliss.”  That is, it is not individualized, it is not embodied, & it is not of Name & Form.  That Awareness is the Formless, attributeless, eternal Truth, & that is the real nature of the Self, which is who you are. It is this that you experience if you deeply Inquire within yourself, “Who am I ?”

The Upanishads. also speak of the Self as Sat-Chit­Ananda, Being-Consciousness-Bliss. The same Upanishads also refer to it as Truth-Knowledge-Infinity [Satyam Jnanam Anantam – both comparable to Satyam Shiva Sundarum, the True, the Good, the Beautiful].

Truth-Knowledge-Infinity. Truth is what is, & Truth is something that always is. To find the Truth, look to that which is ever existent, which is something without Birth or Death, Creation or Destruction.  When you Inquire within yourself to know Truth, you are looking for that which actually is.  Truth, or Reality, is that which is & which is ever-existent & which must be changelessly so. I f it is not ever-existent, it would be true at one time & false at another.  And Truth cannot be false at any time.  What Truth is, always is.  If it would change in the least degree, it would be a “truth” that forms admixtures with what is false.  If though, what you find is True, it never mixes with anything else, because of its invariable nature & because there is nothing else for it to mix with, for the Real is, & the unreal is not. The Real will not mix with the unreal.  If you apply this Knowledge to yourself in searching for the actual experiential Realization of the Truth within you, you will understand what is meant by “1-w/o-a-2^nd,” “Non –  Duality,” & “there has never been anything else.”  You will understand why the ancients said, “Brahman alone is.” Brahman means vast Absolute Truth. You will understand why the ancients said “All this is only Brahman,” “There is nothing but Brahman” & so forth.

Truth-Knowledge-Infinity. The 1^st term is Truth, & the 2^nd is Knowledge.  It is a basic, spiritual fact, which can he discerned by anyone who is introspective, that Ignorance alone is the cause of Bondage & its consequent Suffering.

[more “Calculus for Yogis” is forthcoming]

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 71:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

He, who by questing inward for the Knower, has destroyed the ego & transcended so-called knowledge abides as the Self. He alone is a true knower, not one who has not seen the Self & therefore has an Ego still.

From your true being as Awareness alienated & deluded do not pursue appearances, deeming them as real. They are false, since disappear they must. But your own being as Awareness is real & cannot cease to be.

The World appears distinctly only in Wakefulness & Dream with concepts filled.  In concept—free, all empty Deep Dreamless Sleep, one sees no World; so then conceptual is the World’s whole.

The Mind bewildered which mistakes the Body for oneself conceives the transient World of names & forms, makes it seem real & lovable, & promptly entraps one in the strong, illusive Bondage of Desire.

The empirical World of jostling names & forms is false & has no real existence in bright, full Awareness.  Like a ring of fire formed in the dark when one whirls fast a glowing joss-stick, ’tis an illusion, Mind-created.

 Seen in the light of Self-experience, all this phenomenal World is mere appearance, like the Sky’s deep blueness. What the deluded, body-bound Ego perceives “out there” is Mind-created, nothing more.

Fine-Tuned Universe 51:

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

Believers in a Creator would, of course, see this as the work of creation, although they might also want to emphasize that it was not as a Cosmic explanation that they came to belief in God in the first place.  So the 2 sides of this dialectic are not in strict contradiction with each other, although under certain circumstances they are still in competition.

If the phenomenon of Fine-Tuning can be assumed to be real, does the ability of the theistic position to handle it so neatly count as confirmatory evidence for that position ? Here religious believers should tread very warily.  The assumption above has been that belief in a Creator is for many a given, in need of no further confirmation.  For them, the Many-Universe extrapolation is simply redundant.  But if the 2 Anthropic alternatives were to be regarded as rivals, each in search of confirmation, the Epistemic (truth–establishing) situation would change. The independent plausibility of the many-universe response, however that may be assessed, could limit the confirmatory force of Fine-Tuning for belief in a Creator.  And, of course, one would have to keep in mind the other 2 possible responses to Fine-Tuning, both quite difficult to evaluate in practice.  The apparent Fine-Tuning might not be significant to begin with if either of these 2 were to be correct.  Yet it is quite striking that some notable Physicists take it seriously enough to warrant their calling into existence an Infinity of Universes co-existent with ours.

Still, the Epistemic (truth–establishing) situation is so difficult to assess that it is clearly premature to make Fine-Tuning the key to a new Natural Theology.  It seems best then, for the moment, at least, to fall back on the weaker notion of consonance.  Fine-Tuning is quite evidently consonant with belief in a Creator.  To some, this conclusion might appear too weak: if Theistic belief explains Fine-Tuning, they might argue, this should count Epistemically in its favor.  Strictly speaking this is true (assuming of course that Fine-Tuning is in fact the case.)  However, the Epistemic issues surrounding the Fine-Tuning argument are so intricate & so difficult to assess that making Fine-Tuning an independent motive for Theistic belief may invite more trouble for its proponents than it is worth.

The Fine-Tuning debate has directed the attention of Physicists to issues of an unfamiliar sort.  This of itself has been a major contribution.  How much weight, for example, should Cosmologists give to the Principle of Indifference ?  That is, how serious a problem would it be to leave a constraint on critical Cosmic conditions unexplained ?

Suppose that some future theory were to explain why the fundamental constants of Nature have the values they do, would this eliminate Fine-Tuning ?  On the assumption that the Universe had a beginning in Time, would the transition from nothing to an inconceivably energetic beginning be subject in principle to explanation in terms of physical theory ?  On the assumption that the Universe did not have a temporal beginning, is the demand for explanation of why it should exist in the first place still a legitimate one ?  If the choice were to be between the 2 Anthropic alternatives, there being no evidence for the Many-Universe one other than Fine-Tuning, on what basis would one presume to make the choice ?

Questions like these do not fall into any of the categories to which we are accustomed. Yet they are real questions, ones that insistently pose themselves as we explore the boundary-lands of contemporary cosmology.  They are quite surely not going to go away, so we had best give serious thought as to how they should be approached.

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

The Truth regarding the Self is that it is of the nature of Being-Consciousness-Bliss, & there is nothing other than the Self.  The Self is 1-w/o-a-2^nd, without anything other.  In the Ribhu Gita, experience is described as composed of 5 parts: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, Name & Form. The same Gita says that the first 3 pertain to Reality, & the last 2 pertain to utter Illusion.  The Reality is Being-Consciousness ­ Bliss, while that which is Illusion is Name & Form.  Illusion signifies something actually nonexistent, something that is not.

What is meant by Name & Form ?  Form refers to everything perceived through the Senses. Name refers to all that is Formulated in ideas, anything of a mental character.

To those who are wisely meditating & thus recognizing that the World exists only in the Mind & nowhere else, we often say that the Truth is Formless.  This statement pertains to both Name & Form.  Everything perceivable & conceivable is not the Self & so such is not the actual Truth.

Being-Consciousness-Bliss is said to he Truth.  Being is non-objective.  It has no Form, is qualityless & attributeless, & That which ever is.  The Self, Being is Consciousness but not mere thought-Form & not mere sensation.  The Self is Bliss but not a mere mode of Mind or emotion, not something that depends on an outer cause or set of conditions, & not something that happens in Time. The Self is Bliss that is that is simultaneous & identical with Being, which the ever-present Consciousness.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 70:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Far from revealing Truth, words only darken & conceal It.  To let the Truth shine of itself instead of burying it in words; merge in the heart both word & thought.

 Never through argument, but only by abiding in the heart as pure awareness which lights up & shines within the Mind, can one enjoy the thrill, the throb, the Bliss Supreme of being the Self.

Even like a Dream this Waking World is but a Mind-conceived appearance in mind space.  Hence greatness lies in firmly ending indicative knowledge & the folly of fondness for outer objects.

Knowledge is manifold, say they who know objects, but not Freedom from the dire delusion of differences.  When the Senses 5, driven outward by desire are pulled back, then true, full Awareness comes, & there is no “other” to be known.

As in the Sky with thick clouds covered no eye can see the glorious Sun, one fails to see one’s own Self when the Mind Firmament is darkened by a dense cloud of thoughts.

 The Sage’s pure Mind which beholds as a mere Witness the whole World is like a mirror which reflects the foolish thoughts of those who come before him. And these thoughts are then mistaken to be his.

 The learned man who, letting go the Self, the real Being, sees & cherishes this Dream, this false, illusive World, may be a scholar.  Something different is he who has gained the clarity of Knowing the Self; he is a Knower.

 Holding in their hands the mirror, the Scripture which declares “The Self alone is to be known”, many alas, study with care the text & commentaries; only few seek the Self & gain true life.

Fine-Tuned Universe 50:

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

One final objection that is often voiced may be less serious than it looks. Can the invocation of a Multiplicity of Universes permanently inaccessible to our instruments qualify as Physics? The answer is yes, in principle it can if certain conditions are met.

“Retro-duction”, Effect-to-cause Inference, is central to the Natural Sciences generally:  the Physicist who infers to the structure of the atom or molecule on the basis of an emission spectrum or the Geologist who infers to the inner structure of the Earth on the basis of Seismographic data is employing standard Retro-ductive reasoning.

This is the reasoning that underlies explanatory theories that account for inductively arrived at empirical regularities & that give cognitive access to causal structures that are, more often than not, not directly accessible to us.

Such theories are warranted by their ability to account for the data that originally called them forth, but even more by their performance over time, their ability to overcome anomaly, their successfully predicting novel results, their continued survival in the face of severe test, their ability to unify previously disparate domains. The list of the desirable Epistemic (truth–establishing) virtues is long.

A Many-Universe theory is retro-ductive in form; the existence of the Ensemble of universes that constitute its postulated causal structure will be warranted only to the extent that the theory itself behaves well over time. An adequate theory of Inflationary Origination over an Ensemble, with our own Universe as the (admittedly sole) observational warrant, would be enough, provided that the theory could be made sufficiently specific (there are doubts about the present candidates in that regard) & that it comes to be supported by something more than accounting for the original puzzling Fine-Tuning, a slender reed when considered on its own.

A caring Creator: The 4^th alternative, the other Anthropic response, is of a much more familiar kind; it comes from a quarter remote from Scientific Cosmology. Its premise, a Creator who has a care for human concerns, is a standard feature of the Western religious tradition. This response is the only one of the 4 that can be said to “explain” the Fine-Tuning phenomenon in something like the familiar sense of “explain”: ascribing the Fine-tuning to the motive of an agent. But, of course, putting it that way tends to mask the unfamiliarity of the agency & the problematic character of ascribing the Fine-Tuning to a Creator’s motives. In its favor is that, unlike the Many-Universe alternative, it requires no new postulation, & it can appeal to a long philosophical tradition stretching back to St, Augustine & beyond, with highly developed metaphysics in its support. Against it is an equally familiar array of objections to the whole idea of a Creator & to the demand for an explanation of the Universe’s existence.

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

The Self is bodiless & is the same in all beings. Being the same in all beings, all bodies are one’s own, while one is actually bodiless. If one is bodiless, all is oneself, & all belongs to oneself, how can delusion, desire, anger, & such arise? All such modes of mind & corresponding conduct are the delusions born of the “I am the body” belief, with its associated idea of individuals inhabiting those bodies conceived as oneself & others. Believing the Self to be tainted by the defects of, & defined & bound by, the body, mind, & ego is ignorance. Without these misidentifications, one is like clear, vast space. Space-like Being-Consciousness is the Self & this Self is itself the very substance of its Knowledge.

The Self cannot be an object of Knowledge, just as it cannot be an object of senses. It has no form. The all-pervasive formless Brahman is the innermost, formless Self. If misidentification with the body, mind, & ego ceases, this becomes self-evident. All forms, all objects of knowledge, all that appear to come onto being are as unreal as what is seen in a dream – the illusion of ignorance. Duality has no real existence. If this is realized, the Knowledge this realized is objectless & eternal.

Calculus for Yogis, part 14:

Returning to Friction–Damping of HM Harmonic Motion, with Acceleration’s 2^nd

Derivative & Friction’s Velocity–dependent 1^st Derivative (with a frictional Damping Coefficient b):

– k x  = – b  d x/ d t   =  m  d² x/ d t²

we re-arrange into the Equation of Motion 2^nd-order DE:

m  d² x/ d t²    +    b  d x/ d t   +   k x   =   0

Instead of a simple Trigonometric wave solution, such must be Negative Exponentially Friction damped  as:

x (t)   =  A e^–(b/2m)t cos (ω t  –  α)        for phase angle  α

For ω_o, the un-damped “natural resonance” frequency, the slowing damped oscillation frequency starts lower acceding to:

ω_o² – ω²   =  (b/2m)²

Among various amounts of Driving Force, F. that which largely “cancels” out the Friction is loosely considered a “resonance” but is more properly a “steady-state” F_o such that:

(ω_o² – ω²)²   +   (ωb/m)²    =   (F_o /A m)²

Actual “waves” have their Time & Space behavior related to wave velocity in terms of 2^nd-order Derivatives (for simplicity, suppressing PDE notation):

 d² y/ d t²    =  v²  d² y/ d x²    where for example it can be that:   y  =  A sin ω (x/v  –  t)

The average energy  E_ave of a “harmonic oscillator” in Classical Statistical Physics is given as  kT  for  k  being Boltzmann’s Constant.  But Max Planck’s “quantized harmonic oscillator” is that given by:

h ω/ (e^{–(bc / 2kT}  –  1)    for  speed of light  c,  &  h  is Planck’s Constant divided by 2π

In Quantum Wave Mechanics, the Radius Vector  r  replaces Displacement, & the wave-function  y(t)  gives way to the complex-valued Wave Amplitude:  Ψ(r,t) ; & Energy values are generated by the Hamiltonian operator H for the Schrödinger Wave Equation:

i h d Ψ(r,t) / d t   =   H Ψ(r,t)

The difference between the Classical 2^nd-order Derivatives & the Quantum Wave Mechanics 1^st-order Derivatives is “somewhat” reflected in the complex-valued Probability Amplitude nature of  Ψ which must have its absolute value “squared” to yield physical Probability values.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 69:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Even the knowledge sense-perceived of the world without has for its ground the Self above. To search for knowledge somewhere else apart from That is but to grasp the shadow, not the substance.

Whatever notion may arise, never to let it live or grow, but to turn it that very instant, firm &stern, back to its source &merge it there, this is robust, intense detachment.

The knowledge that ignores the Self, the knower, &  holds as true the field perceived, is but illusive folly. No matter how much one has learned, true knowledge is the merging of all indicative knowledge in awareness of the Self.

The one true light there is, is pure Awareness. Other kinds of knowledge clinging to it &  claiming to be real are ego-born conceptual clouds. To trust them is sheer folly.

All other kinds of knowledge are base, trivial. The only true &  perfect knowledge is the stillness of pure awareness. The many differences perceived in the Self whose nature is awareness are wrong attributions & not real at all.

What sort of knowledge is this wretched bodily–mental knowledge of objects ? Would those who long for pure awareness hanker after this ?  To know pure awareness is true wisdom. All other knowledge is mere folly.

What if one knows the subtle secret of manifold inscrutable mysteries ?  Until one knows the awareness which reveals all other knowledge, does one know the Truth ?

Fine-Tuned Universe 49:

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

The 2 Anthropic responses are, of course, the ones that have caught people’s attention.  Both involve ontological assertions that far transcend the observable Universe.  Both make essential reference to the human factor. Both draw implicitly or explicitly on the weak Anthropic Principle: human questioners like us are bound, of necessity, to find themselves in a universe that satisfies whatever cosmic conditions are required for life to be able to develop in at least one region within it. As these questioners regard their universe, they will inevitably discover it to be able to satisfy these conditions. This response of itself does not, of course, relieve the puzzlement occasioned by the discovery of fine-tuning. The original question still has to be faced: is the fact that our universe is fine-tuned in regard to a particular parameter, & thus life hospitable, significant or not ?  Is it no more than chance, a piece of good luck for us, a quirk in our current physical theories? At this point the 2 Anthropic responses diverge.

Many-Universe postulate: The 1^st of these (the “scientific” one) in its strongest form postulates a vast ensemble of existent universes featuring a wide distribution of values of the relevant parameter. This response has a quite complex structure, a point that can easily be missed.  Some philosopher–critics have charged that although the Many-Universe hypothesis would give reason to believe that some universe would be life hospitable, it would of itself give no reason to suppose that that Universe would be ours, in all its particularity. Hence, the hypothesis does not explain why this Universe turns out to be fine-tuned, and the fact that our Universe is Fine-Tuned thus fails to support the hypothesis.

One need not enter into contested issues about individuation to see what is wrong with this argument. Nor does one need to call on Bayesian reasoning to be convinced that the many-universe hypothesis does not, of itself, explain why.

At the end of his analysis, White concludes: “Postulate as many other universes as you wish, they do not make it any more likely that ours should be life-permitting, or that we should be here. So our good fortune to exist in a life-permitting universe gives us no reason to suppose that there are many universes” [emphasis added]. For a critique, this universe in its particularity rather than another is fine-tuned for life. Rather, one has to call on a second, additional strand of argument along Anthropic lines to show how the Many-Universe response as a whole works. That we should live in a Life-hospitable Universe rather than elsewhere obviously requires no explanation: it is a necessary truth.  In the Many-Universe line of argument, what does require explanation is that there should be a Universe of this general kind available. And this the Many-Universe hypothesis secures.  Our existence ensures the existence of some Life-hospitable Universe & thus supports that hypothesis, which has such a Universe as its consequence. This attack on the logic of the many-universe response fails.

However, the Multi-Verse version of the postulate is still not much more than a fascinating, but highly speculative, Mathematical exercise at this point. It faces many testing challenges. Is the notion of an infinitely realized domain of existent Universes even coherent ?  This issue has been debated since Aristotle’s time & it is still not resolved. Doesn’t making the Multi-Verse eternal simply serve to evade the normal scientific question of how it was itself generated ?  How is one to ensure that the “bubble” Universes brought about by the unending series of Inflation events exhibit law-like behavior of any sort, let alone the probabilistic distribution of such behaviors that the Fine-Tuning argument requires ?  If the notion of a Multi-Verse is prompted primarily by the need to explain Cosmic Fine-Tuning, does it not itself pose numerous demands for explanation in its own right ?

A Many-Universe theory involving only a single Inflation event would seem more accessible to scientific test at least. But even there, many issues remain unresolved. Do scalar fields exist ?  How is one to set up and validate a distribution function over the Ensemble of Universes ?  A generating process would have to be specified, but how is this process itself to be explained ?  That is, why this process rather than some other one ? And might there not be some special conditions required to initiate the sort of inflation under consideration, leaving open the possibility that an element of Fine-Tuning might find its way back into the process that was supposed to banish it once & for all ?

Further, the invocation of a Many-Universe solution does not of itself necessarily lay Fine-Tuning to rest: every time Fine-Tuning makes its appearance, the argument seems to be carried a level higher in order to rescue the Principle of Indifference.

But this introduction of a higher-level Ensemble, if it can be made specific enough, seems in practice itself to involve a further round of Fine-Tuning, & so the dialectic continues, at each level becoming more ontologically extravagant.

Barrow & Tipler point out that if the notion of an infinitely realized Universe were to be allowed, the original grounds for postulating Inflation would no longer hold good.  Why not argue instead that in a chaotically random infinite Universe “there must exist a large, virtually homogeneous, & isotropic region, expanding sufficiently close to flatness . . . so that after 15 Billion years it looks like our Universe ?”

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

No allure, no desire from externals, rather unstoppable, constant inner urge for unlimited happiness. Happiness comprehended in wisdom is always of the Self, never to be superimposed as dependent on momentary externals.

Undefined, without delusion, unlimited subjective happiness grows as ego diminishes by seeing ego supporting ideas to be unreal. Free of misidentification with form is free of suffering & limitation. Unending, intense Bliss erases all memory of sorrow imagined from unreal events & superimposed sense forms. Happiness is not a sensation. Discriminate ever more finely between Knower & known (world, body, mind, ego).

The descriptions of the Self & the negation of attributes & limited definition of the Self, such as that it is bodiless, non-sensory, without prana, free from thought, etc., would be meaningless if they referred to some sort of other Self different from the aspirant’s own true Self. There are not two selves in the same one being. There is one Self, & when known as it is, it is infinite & eternal, not a being, but just Being.

To realize this, Knowledge of oneself as the Self free from the body & such, must become as certain & steady as the belief  of a human being  that he is a human being, which a human being does not doubt on any occasion. When that human determines by Self-Knowledge what, in Truth, that human being is, Absolute Being is known, & if this without doubt & without wavering one has thus known what needs to be known, has experienced what needs to be experienced, & has realized what needs to be experienced.

Calculus for Yogis, part 13:

When casting the image of a Point, the point of intersection of the Radius line & the Circumference of the unit Circle, the image of that Point revolving CCW counter-clock-wise from the right-most place that would be East on a compass, or Angle 0 on the positive X-axis, we mentioned that the shadows, sideways or vertically, would exhibit Simple Harmonic Motion, SHM.  We want to use the partial introduction of Cosines & Sines, Derivatives & Integrals, to look at this SHM, Simple Harmonic Motion.

Newton’s 2^nd Law for Force. F, can be put in terms of Acceleration, a which the Time Derivative of Velocity, v:

F  =  m  a  =  m  d v/ d t

whereas Velocity, v is itself the Time Derivative of Distance, Displacement:

v  =  d v/ d t  =  d x/ d t

so that putting Force. F, in terms of Displacement, which is the “2^nd order” Time Derivative of Displacement [Derivative of the Derivative]:

F  =  m  a  =  m  d v/ d t   =   =  m  d² x/ d t²

The Spring, with Spring stiffness or Constant k, characteristically has a (negative) restoring Force. F given by:

– k x   =   F  =  m  a  =  m  d² x/ d t²

– k / m  x  =   d² x/ d t²

The Exponential Function had a 1^st Derivative equal to itself, or proportional to itself if other constants were involved. But fir SHM, it is the 2^nd Derivative of x that is proportional to  x .  This SHM characteristic is fulfilled then, not by the Exponential, but by a trigonometric function, Sine or Cosine.  So making this substitution for F we get:

x (t)   =  A cos (ω t  +  φ)  ,  for  A – amplitude, ω  –  angular frequency,  φ  – phase shift

[This could be put in terms of Sine, with appropriate  phase shift φ  since  Cos  &  Sin  have a phase shift of  π /2  =  90^o]

To take the 1^st Derivative we use the above mentioned Chain Rule for Cos of a function. that function being, d y/ d t   =   (d y/ d x) ( d x/ d t)   = [ – A sin (ω t  +  φ)]  [d x (ω t + φ) / d t ]since:   d cos / d t  =  – sin   &   for constant ω  &  φ,   d x (ω t + φ) / d t                                            =   ω

d cos (ω t  +  φ) / d t   =  – A sin (ω t  +  φ)  d (ω t  +  φ) / d t  

=  – A ω sin (ω t  +  φ)

Taking the 2^nd Derivative, with:   d sin / d t  =  cos

d² x/ d t²   =   d² [A cos (ω t + φ)] / d t²   =   d [– A ω sin (ω t + φ)] / d t

                 =  – A ω² cos (ω t  +  φ)   =  – ω²  x (t)

[Incidentally, comparing to the above:   – k / m  x  =  – ω² x    &   k  =  m  ω² ,  which describes ω_o the “natural resonance” frequency of whatever be the “harmonic oscillator”, Driven by Force (a shove or tug of a spring instead of a stretch & just letting go) another transient frequency would settle back to ω_o. The forgoing describes a frictionless system. With Friction, the system slows down & stops.]

For short swings of a weight on a nearly “massless” String, a Pendulum, the same SHM equations apply with the substitution for the above (k / m) being (g / l) for g the acceleration of Earth-surface Gravity & l the length of the String.  For a twisting Torsional Pendulum, the parallel is even closer with Spring Constant k becoming the Torsion Constant; & mass m becoming a Moment of Inertia I.  The exact same terms extend the description to a Pendulum whose String has mass, or object suspended from a point, floating, or otherwise “rocking” object. Hence the some of the Physics of “vibes”.

If we go back to:  – k / m  x  =   d² x/ d t²      describing SHM Acceleration, the 2^nd Derivative, for Friction which depends on Velocity, we add a 1^st Derivative with a frictional Damping Coefficient b.

– k x   – b  d x/ d t   =  m  d² x/ d t²

The  transient frequency would settle back to ω_o. The forgoing describes a frictionless system. With Friction, the system slows down & stops.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 68:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

You are bodiless & Space-less in Deep Sleep, yet in the waking state 8. in Dream appear to be the opposite. Whatever the Dream, the only thing that has value & is worth doing with regard to Dream is to wake up. When you wake up, do you say that the experiences of the Dream were real, although within the Dream everyone there would have tried to convince you of it No. Similarly, when you wake up to the Self these experiences of the World will be unreal, like in a Dream, although others in that state Wl|| try to convince you that they are real. Every plane of Worldly existence has its own illusion, which can be destroyed only by another illusion on the same plane. For example, a man takes a full meal & goes to sleep. He dreams of being hungry in spite of the food he has in his stomach. To satisfy the Dream hunger, he has to take Dream food. A wound in Dream requires Dream treatment. A great king once dreamt that he was ill but was too poor to call a doctor. Although he had fabulous wealth in the Waking state, it was of no use to him in the Dream slate. Similarly, the illusion of ignorance can be destroyed only by the Illusion of the Masters Grace.

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

Fine-Tuned Universe 48:

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

How to account for the “Fitness if the Environment”  ?   One possible alternative was Evolution as a Cosmic process, of which Darwinian Natural Selection governing living things would be one major manifestation. So a natural property must have been inherent in the original unorganized matter & energy bringing about an Evolutionary process that in turn shaped the differentiated properties of the elements, making 3 of these [C, H, O] optimally ready for the Origin & flourishing of Life.

In this “Teleology”, in some sense Life was described as a goal of the broader Cosmic process.  The process was purely Mechanistic with no part of the popular Vitalisms of the day.  Expanding the notion of a “Mechanism” allows it to accomplish purpose-like goals without involving conscious purpose.

If a mechanistic process accomplished goals or valued ends, as a thermostat does, it would prompt a new series of queries as to how this itself came about. As for the Fitness of the Chemical Environment, an explanation of some sort was needed.

Here was an early argument for Fine-Tuning.  But the Fine-Tuning metaphor does not reflect how well, on a Cosmic scale, certain properties of the Chemical Environment fitted the requirements of the Life process in general.  This degree of Fit is striking enough to warrant an explanation.  One alternative explanation was a mechanistic sort that shaped the Chemical properties of an initially unorganized Chaos (~ the Principle of Indifference) so as to make it possible for Life to come into being & flourish.

Fine-Tuning implies a precise standard toward which the Fine-Tuned activity is to be adjusted. A standard of this sort that would permit life to go forward.  The focus of the argument was on the multiplicity of ways in which the properties of the Cosmically favored elements [C, H, O] & their compounds conspire together, as it were, to provide a suitable Environment for Life. That Environment in the constitution of Nature is the occasion.

What is regarded as significant is the manifold Fitness for Life of the Cosmic chemical environment in general. One might perhaps describe this as “Fine-Tuning,” in an extended sense of that term.  The “Fitness” was the sort of consideration that, more generally, had already prompted arguments of the classical Design sort, although of course with a novel twist & a resolute refusal to follow through to the classical Design conclusion.

The 4 alternative responses to claims of Cosmic Fine-Tuning:

Chance:  One might simply dismiss as Chance the Cosmic constraints required for the Universe to be Life bearing.  The Parameter in question had to have “some value”, one might say, so why not this one ?  It need have no further significance.  The Universe, it might be said, is a contingent affair, & Fine-Tuning should be seen in that light. Such a response is impossible to refute, strictly speaking.  The challenge to it comes from 2 alternatives that present Fine-Tuning as potentially significant.  Scientists on the whole seem uneasy about setting aside the quest for explanation, as the recourse to Chance does.

One can detect a note of urgency, almost, in many of the discussions of the original Fine-Tuning claim in the late 1970s and early 1980s: leaving the initial tight Cosmic setting of the Energy Density simply as a given was obviously a troubling prospect.  Just as troubling, perhaps, to some was the leap to an Infinity of Universes.  And even more troubling to others was undoubtedly the rapidly growing interest of the broader community in the dramatic reappearance of indications of Design in Natural Science at the Cosmic level.  In their view, an alternative response had to be found.

A 5^th alternative:  Intelligent Observers able to Fine-Tune Cosmic constants on their own account

Consequence of an advance in theory:  This reaction defined a 2^nd way to deal with the Fine-Tuning challenge: work toward a theoretical advance that would eliminate, or at least significantly reduce, the need for Fine Tuning of the initial Energy Density. In the interim, simply assume that such an advance will someday be made.  At the level of Cosmic beginnings, Scientific theory is more than ordinarily fragile – & quite evidently incomplete in the absence of a unifying successor to Relativity theory & Quantum Theory.

There is reason to think that a re-evaluation of Fine-Tuning claims in general may well lie somewhere down the road.  This is obviously less likely in the case of Consciousness Fine-Tuning than in the simpler case of the tuning of an apparently contingent parameter such as Energy Density.

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

Though the Body is not the Self, the Self is not the Performer of Action, & Action is unrelated to Self-Knowledge. Action can in no way bring about the Liberation that this Self-Knowledge alone yields. The holy Sage who knows this will always be manifesting the Good, the True, & the Beautiful. With love for all Beings, knowing all to be himself, endowed with equanimity & imperturbable Peace, with no self-interest, he is ever engaged in the highest good, whether he appears active or still.  His honesty derives from Truth itself, his love derives from the indivisible nature of Being, his Peace derives from the immovable Absolute, & his kindness & care derive from the perfect Fullness.

How would it be possible, for one who knows about Liberation & the Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the Absolute Self, to engage in conduct that would be other than the good, the true, the beautiful, love, equanimity, peace, dis-interest, the highest good, honesty, kindness, & care.

Nonetheless, it is never possible to determine the state of a Realization Sage from the outer appearances of the Body with which he has no identity whatsoever.  The Sage has gone beyond the Illusions of Life & Death, never to return to that which never really was. The Sage is serene in & as the Absolute, & abides as the Eternal.

Whatever is done, he is not the Do-er of anything.  Whatever is said by the Sage, the Sage remains Silent.  Whatever is thought, he remains unmodified.  For he has known himself, & he himself is what he knows.

You are That. Realize the Truth of this by Self-Inquiry. Supreme Knowledge, Consciousness, is Brahman. Attain Liberation by Knowledge & realize that true Knowledge is the Eternal, Supreme Consciousness itself.  This Self is Brahman.  Inquire “Who am I ?”  & realize pure Being as the 1-without-a-2^nd.  I am Brhaman.  Abide in the Natural State of the Real Self, in the state of Identity with no other “I”.

Abide as That, which, when known, leaves no other thing to be known. Abide as That, the Happiness of which leaves nothing to be desired. Abide as That, which, when realized, leaves no other Reality but itself.  Abide as That, which is the Self, which alone exists eternally, for it is That which alone is.

Calculus for Yogis, part 11:

Reprise of the Electrical RLC Circuit Analogy:

We can abuse some simple electrical circuit terminology to sketch again the 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 or 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/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 67:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Your own Realization is the best help possible help to others. But there really are no others to be helped. A Realized being sees only the Self, just like a goldsmith estimating the gold in various items of jewelry sees only gold. When you identify yourself with the Body then only the forms & shapes are there. But when you transcend your Body the others disappear along with your Body-consciousness. Do plants, trees, etc. exist at all apart from the Self ? Find it out. You think that you see them. Thought is projected out from the Self. Find out from where it rises. Thoughts will cease to rise & the Self alone will remain.

 It is like a Cinema-show. There is the light on the screen & the shadows flitting across it impress the audience as the enactment of some piece. If in the same play an audience also is shown on the screen as part of the performance. the seer & the seen will then both be on the screen. Apply it to yourself. You are the screen. The Self has created the Ego. The Ego has its accretions of thoughts which are displayed as the World, the trees & the plants of which you are asking. In Reality, all these are nothing but the Self. If you see the Self, the same will be found to be all, everywhere & always. Nothing but the Self exists.

Fine-Tuned Universe 47:

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

So far the issue has been whether Fine-Tuning, in the relatively precise sense that that term has acquired in Cosmology, is likely to find fresh application in Biology.

The answer has been, on the whole, negative.  But suppose one were to address the issue more broadly.  Fine-Tuning is an instance of Design, real or apparent; but Design is itself a much broader category. The indications of design in the living World described in loving detail by 17^th-century exponents of Natural Theology, such as Robert Boyle & John Ray, did not point to Fine-Tuning as the clue to the involvement of Intelligence.  Fine-Tuning is a highly specific sort of clue, as we have seen, leading to a specific set of alternative responses. Searching for evidence of design in the living world today, on the other hand, might perhaps have a higher likelihood of success, judging by the record, than trying to find analogs of Fine-Tuning there.

Might one infer, then, to something like design from claims of evolutionary inevitability or convergence? One could, of course, if one were to postulate a directive agency of some sort at work within the evolutionary process, itself impelling the process onward to higher and higher levels of complexity. Bergson’s “´elan vital” & Teilhard de Chardin’s “radial energy” would be of this sort. But it has to be said that suggestions of this kind have, on the whole, met with a frosty reception from evolutionary biologists. Such views challenge the overall adequacy of the neo-Darwinian explanatory framework, not a popular stand; critics respond that this framework is perfectly capable of handling whatever directions evolution can be shown to have taken.

It was the introduction of this framework that undermined the case for Design in the first place – Design, that is, that would be associated with specific complex features of the living World. Its modern proponents often present the neo-Darwinian framework as having potentially universal applicability: wherever in the Universe a certain set of conditions, centered on descent with modification, is to be found, Evolution is bound to occur.

The only contingencies that arise in this scenario have to do with the satisfying of the required conditions & the presence in advance of reproducing organisms.  How well a Darwinian type of schema applies to the Origin of the first cells is still a matter of debate.

Holding that the contingencies are easily satisfied so that life must be commonplace throughout the vast Spaces & Times of the Universe, he “Pregnancy” thesis, as suggested to some that such a profusion would indicate the agency of Design in some form. Yet one wonders why frequency of occurrence, as against rarity, should of itself be significant in this context. If anything, extreme rarity would appear to be a more likely lead, if it could be established. But this is to barely scratch the surface of the burgeoning Life Sciences.

The prospects for finding indications in those Sciences for Fine-Tuning proper may not be bright.  But perhaps the notion of Design might still prove capacious enough to extend into current discussions of such themes as optimality & Fitness.

It would need to do so at the Cosmic level. At the local level of Terrestrial Biology, the Many-World alternative would be all too obvious so that even the appearance of design would hardly be countenanced. It may be worth recalling at this point, for the historical morals that might be drawn, an earlier appeal to Cosmic Fitness that elicited many of the same questions.

“Fitness of the Environment”

Henderson’s celebrated book, “The Fitness of the Environment is often cited as a harbinger of the fine-tuning theme in discussions of the place of Life in the Universe.  Having worked through the complexities of that theme, we are now in a better position to judge how close his contributions came to the contemporary notion of Fine-Tuning, and in what ways & for what reasons they fell short of it.

Henderson is not talking about the fitness of life for the environment in which it finds itself. He makes it clear that this can be explained along Darwinian lines: natural selection has shaped life to survive and, when possible, thrive in the particular environment it inhabits and to compensate for changes in that environment.

But this was not what Henderson meant by “fitness of the environment.” It was not where he believed a complement to the Darwinian account needed to be given.

What had struck him was the multiple “fitnesses” of the physical environment for the biochemistry of life in general. And by “environment,” he meant to include both the “external” and “internal,” with emphasis on the latter, following the practice initiated by Claude Bernard, who had had much to say about the milieu, as he termed it. Henderson was intrigued by the crucial roles that Water & Carbon dioxide & at a deeper level their 3 elemental constituents, Hydrogen, Oxygen, & most especially Carbon, played in all living processes. Those processes required complexity, as well as the capacity for self-regulation and metabolism. The properties of the 3 elements and the two compounds made from them seemed to him so ideally suited to these requirements, a conclusion worked out by him in impressive empirical detail that some sort of explanation of this was called for.

Henderson’s concern was not with particular environments, such as that of Earth, but with the cosmic environment (as he saw it) that is revealed by astronomy. He went to some lengths to argue the optimality of the advantages offered by the 2 key compounds and, thus, of their 3 component elements as well. He discussed the possibility that water and carbon might be of frequent occurrence on other planets, arguing for the superiority of water over any other known solvent in the biotic context, as well as for carbon over silicon. He did not go as far as to propose them as necessary conditions for life, a more difficult case to make. Nevertheless, some resonances with the account of Fine-Tuning sketched above were already apparent.

His main theme was the remarkable Fitness of the Chemical Environment for Life, and his problem was how to account for this. He ruled out chance: the coincidences between the properties of the favored elements and the needs of life are too remarkable for this to be a plausible response. Likewise, he dismissed design as an alternative explanation. The notion of design was outside the realm of science; besides, to an agnostic like himself, it held no attraction.

What is particularly striking is that he also excluded the Many-Universe alternative, the response favored by many recent cosmologists. He realized that talking about the superior merits in the Biotic context of the three favored elements might  suggest comparison with other possible chemistries that had a different repertoire of elements.

But this would introduce “other possible worlds in which matter may have different properties and energy different forms.”  And he will have nothing to do with such purely speculative “hypothetical worlds,” restricting himself quite explicitly to the chemistry of the cosmos that we know.

This was sufficient, in his estimate, to make his point about the remarkable biotic optimality of the three elements and their compounds.  Nowhere in his discussion did Henderson suggest the specifically Anthropic factor of a Selection Effect caused by our necessarily finding ourselves in the only one of a large Ensemble of universes in which we could find ourselves. It clearly would not have occurred to him, any more than to anyone else of his time, to take seriously the possibility of an ensemble of other actually existing universes governed by different physical laws as a means of solving his problem.

He had already made his negative attitude clear in regard to hypothetical alternative chemistries. But more to the point, as far as the comparison with Fine-Tuning is concerned, his argument was not specifically Anthropic in the first place.  He talked about the conditions for life in general, about what makes life flourish.  Human Life was not central to the point he was making, as it is in the Fine-Tuning argument.

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

Regarding the great aphorism (proclamation, mahavakya): “Thou art That”, wise Sages declare that the primary meaning of That is the Absolute Brahman. Likewise, the primary meaning of Thou is the Knower, or “I”.

The essential meaning of That is the True Self. Likewise, the essential meaning of Thou is only pure Being, pure Consciousness.  The meaning of both That & Thou is thus the same, & this identity is what art expresses.  “Art” is an expression of complete Identity.

That complete Identity is realized by relinquishing other ideas regarding That, & most importantly, by Self-Inquiry into Thou.  The deeper the Self-Inquiry into Thou, the more That is known as it is, for Thou art That.

No repetition of the idea: “I am That“, “I am the Self”, or “I am Brahman” is intended. For such implies the difference between the instructed & the instruction; between the meditator, the meditation, & the meditated upon; between the one desiring Liberation & the Liberation itself.  Repetition further implies difference between the self who would know & the Self to be known; between the realizer & that realized.

The Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the Absolute Self, Brahman, is to be practiced by Self-Inquiry, full of clear discrimination, that frees one of the false notion of Do-er-ship, of being a sensing entity, of being an experiencer, of being a thinker, & such.  Thus one discerns that the one Self is not the Body, Mind, or Ego, or anything connected with these. Then one knows one’s own true Self to be truly Brahman.

The Knowledge of the Self becomes possible only when the Ego vanishes.  What remains is Self-evident, the Self-knowable, the eternally existing, the forever liberated that has never been bound.  The Freedom & Happiness of this Realization have no cause or reason.  This Freedom & Happiness are self-existing, as Being itself is.  Only un-Happiness & Bondage seem to have reasons. By inquiry, these apparent reasons are found to be merely Ignorance.

When the Knowledge that one is the Self, Brahman, is not veiled by certain false notions, the Self-Knowledge becomes firm. Those are the false notions that Reality is something other than the formless, motionless, immutable Self, & that Happiness is other than the blissful Self.  Then, the mis-identification of the Self with the Body or any other form becomes impossible.

The direct path of Knowledge is that in which one discriminates as described here, renounces the actions of the Body & the Mind. The direct path of Knowledge frees one from the ideas of being a Performer, Experiencer, Thinker, etc., abides free of outer sensing & inner conceiving activities, & thus know the Self to be That.

The practice of the Teaching of Thou art That is the Self-Inquiry: “Who am I ?”  Self-Knowledge is firm when the Knowledge of the Self, which is the Absolute, is not contradicted by the false notions that one lacks Bliss & has desires.  Self-Knowledge is firm when the Self-Knowledge is not contradicted by the false notions that one is not Consciousness & a Do-er. Self-Knowledge is firm when the Self-Knowledge is not contradicted by the false notions that one is not Being, but instead a bound entity.

Calculus for Yogis, part 10:

To partially explain how the previously mentioned “complex” Exponential is related to Sine & Cosine, we can do that by peeking at what are called “imaginary” numbers.  Quadratic [x²] & more complicated functions yield solutions with apparent radicals [square roots] with negative arguments, an impossibility for Real Numbers.

To give an expression to such “imaginary” numbers [apparent radicals with negative arguments]. Unity is replaced by the square root of  –1, designated as i . So  5 i  has  5x  the magnitude.  When added to a Real Number, any Imaginary Number constitutes part of a Complex Number.  When plotted on an Argand Diagram, with an Imaginary axis taking the place of  a Y axis, we can see the Imaginary Number system, not as fanciful, but as “orthogonal” or at a Right Angle to the Real Number system, another “dimension” of sorts.

In any case, the “complex” Exponential,  e^ix  =  cos x   +  i sin x .  Besides connecting the Exponential to the Sine & Cosine functions, a connection already seen in the similarity of their Infinite Series expressions, complex numbers allows us a few straightforward Analogies.  In saying that the Imaginary Axis is in some ways at “right angles” to the Real Number Axis is seen again in Electronics phasor diagrams in which an Imaginary Axis is set at Right angles to the Horizontal X-axis.  That Imaginary Axis represents a Capacitance – Inductance axis at right angles to a Real Axis which is parallel to Voltage & Current in a Resistor [for a Series RLC relationship].

In other words, Inductance & Capacitance are in some ways opposed to each other.  And their combined difference when combined with Resistance is plotted as a Vector between the Axes on a Phasor Diagram.  This Vector than is a Complex Number composed of an Imaginary Number, for difference between Inductance & Capacitance, & a Real Number for Resistance, or more correctly, the Resistive Impedance.

So then composite Complex Numbers, with the term Imaginary, is not in that sense just a factor of Imagination.  And the ordinary numbers, called Real Numbers, are not so much more Real.  It’s more like the Imaginary Number system is another number system “orthogonal” to or, as it were, at some kind of Right angles to do ordinary number system.

So instead of an Inductance – Capacitance difference, we really meant a difference in the Impedance that this Capacitive, & the Impedance that is Inductive.  Electronics aside, this provides us with an analogy for an Indian principle of 3 guna’s or “qualities” of the Mind.

These 3 characteristics of Mind & Nature, Inert Tamas, Restless Rajas, & Elevating Sattva are seen in ancient Indian Sankhya Philosophy.

The moral is that to model opposing the Inert – Capacitive guna Tamas with the Restless –Inductive guna Rajas, we might use a final difference between the 2 “impedances”.  This joint Impedance then, when combined with the Resistive Impedance which represents a more Real guna Sattva as a description for a mode of Mind.  That mode of Mind can be optimized for Meditation.

Now Resistance happens to be the reciprocal of the term we most likely compare to the elevating guna Sattva, namely the Conductance. So we let Conductance [or its Reactance] be compared to Sattva.  We seek to put the Mind in a more of a pure Conductance mode prior to transcending all 3 guna’s.  To do this, we can either attempt to attenuate both Rajas & Tamas to 0, or as a second-best have their posing strengths cancel each other out, just as Inductive Impedance can cancel out Capacitive Impedance.

Applicable diagrams for a simple RLC series circuit & some of the relevant equations are seen above.  In plain English (& Sanskrit), we would like to eliminate the Rajas mode & the Thomas mode, Restlessness & Inertia.  Or else we can 1^st have them cancel each other out, & then emphasize the Sattva elevating mode.  Then we transcend all 3 guna’s.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 66:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

Even the thought “l do not realize” is a hindrance. In fact, the Self alone is.

 Our real nature is mukti. But we are imagining we are bound & are making various, strenuous attempts to become free, while we are all the while free. This will be understood only when we reach that stage.

We will be surprised that we were frantically trying to attain something which we have always been &   are.

 A man goes to sleep in this hall. He dreams he has gone on a world tour, is roaming over hill &  dale, forest & country, desert & sea, across various continents & alter many years of weary & strenuous travel, returns to this country, reaches & walks in. Just at that moment he wakes up & finds he has not moved an inch but was sleeping where he lay down. He has not returned after great effort to this hall, but is & always has been in the hall. It is exactly like that. If he is asked. “Why being free, do we imagine that we are bound ?”  “Why being in the hall did you imagine you were on a World adventure, crossing hill & dale, desert & sea ?”  It is all Mind or Maya [Illusion].  

 See if the unreal has come to be. There is no such thing as the unreal, from another standpoint.

 The Self alone exists. When you try to trace the Ego, which is the basis of the perception of the World & everything else, you find the Ego does not exist at all & neither does all this creation that you see.

 The ajnani sees only the Mind which is a mere reflection. If the light of pure Consciousness because his Mind is extroverted & has never sought its source.

 Just as a small pot of water Reflects the enormous Sun within the narrow limits of the pot, even so the vasanas or latent tendencies of the Mind of the individual, acting as The reflecting medium, catch the all-pervading, infinite light of Consciousness. The form of this Reflection is the phenomenon called the Mind. Seeing only this Reflection, the ajnani is deluded into the belief that he is a finite being, the jiva, the individual self.

Fine-Tuned Universe 46:

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

This 2^nd element in every fine-tuning discussion draws on Biology only in the most general and speculative way. This is not the sort of Biology that one finds in a textbook, but the kind science-fiction writers without number have used in imagining living forms that escape almost any restriction that analogies with the Terrestrial Life we know would be likely to impose. So the search for conditions necessary for any form of life throughout the universe has to proceed very warily indeed. Still, the conditions that have so far played a part in the Fine-Tuning discussions (the need for elements more complex than Hydrogen & Helium to form the material basis of living process, the need for several generations of Stars to generate the heavier elements, etc.) seem reasonably secure.

But the problem is that we do not have a Cosmic Biology in the sense in which we do have a Cosmic Physics & Chemistry. The Life forms of Earth, & consequently the Biology built on them, have been shaped by the innumerable particularities of the Terrestrial environment over Billions of years.  Countless independent causal lines have crossed and recrossed to form the unique biota of the Earth of today & yesterday.  The limited Teleonomic order imposed by Natural Selection on individual Evolutionary lineages is nowhere near enough to yield anything that could plausibly count as a Cosmic Biology. The evidence of convergence in the Evolutionary record, so persuasively presented in recent work, does carry some weight in suggesting Universals of various kind.  But this still falls far short of providing an abstract framework within which all living processes would have to fit.

The prospect of terrestrial Biology’s suggesting a direct Fine-Tuning relationship on its own account might therefore be regarded as problematic.  It would seem that some feature of the complex Living Processes described in our Biology would have to demand Fine-Tuning on the part of some underlying physical parameter.

The immediate problem here is that Living Processes, as these are understood in Terrestrial Biology, do not necessarily have Cosmic scope.  Other worlds could well be found in our Universe where Biological processes of a substantially different sort flourish, calling into question the significance of an Earth-related “Fine-Tuning.”

The 2^nd problem, of course, would be to establish a link to a physical parameter requiring Fine-Tuning for the Biological Process to go forward.

Still, it is worth carrying the matter a stage further. Take the issue of inevitability in Evolutionary Biology, for instance.  A good case can be made for holding that Evolution tends to converge over the course of time on certain favored forms.  Some would go even further, starting with the Origin of Life in a suitable Environment & moving easily to the eventual appearance of a Technologically competent civilization capable of communicating with us.

Others, however, would emphatically reject any suggestion of overall directionality in the Evolutionary Process, pointing to the many sources of contingency along the way – notably the occurrence of a major catastrophe on a global scale.

In a different, although related, context, the Origin of Life is taken by some to be of common, even inevitable, occurrence across the Cosmos, whereas others would see complex Life, at least, as a rare event, dependent on a host of contingent factors.

Does this issue bear on considerations of Fine-Tuning ?  Strictly speaking, this hardly seems to be the case.  Fine-Tuning connotes a certain precariousness, a condition barely met.  Features such as inevitability or convergence in the story of Evolution convey just the opposite. Evolutionary sequences are sometimes said to converge on forms possessing specific functions with no hint of the Environmental constraints required for this to happen.

Claims of Inevitability or Convergence could be either broadly empirical, based on scrutiny of the historical record of Terrestrial Evolution, or broadly theoretical, based on how Darwinian evolution is supposed to work in general terms.  But in neither case does anything like Fine-Tuning appear to be involved – quite the reverse, it might seem. Nor is the broader claim any better: that the cosmos is pregnant with Life & the Origin of Life faces no particular barrier in the widest variety of cosmic circumstances.

One might argue that a Universe of this bio-philic sort is antecedently unlikely & that some specific sort of Fine-Tuning at the physical level is responsible for our Universe’s being bio-philic rather than more sparing in offering Life support.  This would seem to reduce to the Fine-Tuning argument in Physics that we have already seen, although this could depend on what connotation, exactly, one attaches to “bio-philic”.

Adapted from some  verses from a great Sage:

TIME & SENSES:

Past description, Present description, & Future description, which are known by thought-forms, can only be illusory.  This leaves timeless Consciousness as the ever present underlying condition.  We can consider the manner in which one seems to know of the World of sense objects in Thought.  The sense of touch, for instance, provides a variety of intermittent signals, describing textures & shapes, but all in a vague hardly localizable collection.

When one Perception is in Consciousness, no other can be there in Consciousness.  Nor can any other Perception in fact exist elsewhere because there is nowhere else.  If storage of other Perceptions could occur in some other place, realm, or domain, outside of Consciousness, how would it be known ?  If not present in Consciousness at a give moment, then where can that Perception be stored or hidden ?  And so with only one partial sensory Perception present & existing at any one time, the Sensation of the World is always an incomplete, vague, & sketchy impression at best.  We can compare this Mind-colored and filled-in illusion to the sketchy shadows of a dimly lit Rope, being mistaken for an entire Snake.  Once the light of clarity is cast upon the “Snake”, it is seen & known to have been a Rope all along.  Once the sketchy structure of the Sense-World is recognized for what it is, pure Consciousness remains apparent as the sole Reality.

Each Sense takes no account of any other Sense.  We must take Sights & Sounds & artificially link them with Sensations of Touch in order to construct a World at all.  Just like intermittent Sounds, so likewise do flickering momentary Visual pictures get blended with each other, & then with Sound track to create the “movie” of the World.

The old Hollywood movie “Brainstorm” reiterated the often played Science Fiction theme of total Sound-Sight-Feel-Taste-Smell-Think-Feel recording & playback on advanced multi-sensory & multi-cerebral recording media.  Whether it be electronic media, or hallucinatory drugs, psychotic distortion, hypnosis, dream, or physical illusions like mirage & rainbow, the question remains, how do we know for sure that the World we seem to experience right now is any more Real than any of these ?   Why could we not be like some sci-fi, Science Fiction character, an intergalactic espionage agent captured & plugged into a Vat or some other fabricated Life experience ?

While not a serious question, the point still merits fanciful contemplation.  Looking through the gaps that separate the Senses & the Time intervals between momentary Perceptions themselves, we see into a formless continuum upon which the ghost-like multi-sense-media image of the World is cast.  In looking back from that formless continuum, we are actually looking back from pure Consciousness.  The Perennial Philosophy of Vedanta declares the Sense images to be insubstantial shadows in that one Reality of Consciousness.

And then again, every Perception, be it well combined together with other perceptions or not, is itself only a particular type of thought-form.  And if Thoughts cannot contact one another, how are they to be combined ?  For all these thought-forms, Consciousness is the combiner, the holder, the viewer, the substratum.  At the very least, even if the World were taken as valid, then the option still remains to identify with Consciousness rather than with these objects.  In terms of the Quantum Mechanical Measurement problem, the question could be taken up from the viewpoint of being Consciousness rather than from the ordinary viewpoint of being a Body-object in a World of other objects.  The Senses present disjointed data interpreted as a World.

Calculus for Yogis, part 9:

The Laplace transform, like the Fourier transform (& there are many other transforms) display that pattern seen in integration by parts where the integral of a product of functions allows us to transform our description from one Variable to another Variable.

In Quantum Mechanical Hilbert Space, the Fourier transforms between Distance space & Momentum space.  In crystallography, it does so between Reciprocal space that determines Diffraction & Distance space, describing position of atoms in the crystal.

Both the Laplace & Fourier transforms, especially the Laplace transform, have some of there usefulness in the ability to exchange more intricate processes for addition processes.  We saw this in a similar way in use of Logarithms to substitute addition for multiplication.  In the case of Fourier transform, especially the Sine & Cosine are key elements.

With that in mind, we further our exploration of Sine & Cosine by considering a Unit Radius Circle & the Intersection of that Radius with the Circumference. If that Point of Intersection was the Point of reference, then its Horizontal position is the  x  Coordinate.  This would be the Cosine of the Angle between the Radius Line & the Horizontal X axis.  The Point’s Vertical position, the  y  Coordinate would be the Sine.

If we allowed that Point to revolve at a uniform speed CCW around the Circle, we could to shine a light from left to right & cast a shadow of that Point, bobbing up & down, in simple Harmonic motion, like a spring.  Part of that range could also be cast by the shadow of a Pendulum.

If we were to cast a shadow from a light below onto screen above, we would see the point moving to & fro in simple Harmonic motion, again representing the rise and fall of the Cosine [image rotated 90^o].  If we were to allow those Points to have a pen attached in some way & have a uniform-speed of chart paper rolling underneath that pen. we would trace out a wavelike curve.  These in fact would be the graphs of the Cosine & Sine functions.

These Waves describe many physical phenomena, including Alternating Current. And so, we find that the Fourier transform is very useful in Electronics simply it exactly because of its component Cosine & Sine functions.  Again in Complex Space, the Exponential Function serves the role of combining these 2.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 65:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

In Non-duality, Meditation may be regarded as by the Self, for there is no other Knower, & upon the Self, since there is no Object of the Meditation. In Meditation upon Self-Knowledge one cannot stand apart from the Self to contemplate upon Self-Knowledge. 

Knowing the Self is being the Self, & Being means Existence, one’s own Existence.

No one denies one’s Existence any more than one denies one’s eyes, although one cannot see them.

The trouble lies with your desire to objectify the Self, in the same way as you objectify your eyes when you place a mirror before them.

You have been so accustomed to objectivity that you have lost the knowledge of yourself, simply because the Self cannot be objectified.

Who is to know the Self ?   Can the insentient Body know it ?

All the time you speak & think of your “I”, yet when questioned you deny knowledge of it.

You are the Self, yet you ask how to know the Self.

 The many objective differences are not real but are mere superimpositions on Self, which is of nature of True Knowledge.

If the idea “l am the Body” is accepted, selves are multiple.

The state in which this “I am the Body” idea vanishes is the Self since in that state there are no other objects.

Since the Body itself does not exist in the natural outlook of the real Self, but only in the extroverted outlook of the Mind which is deluded by the power of Illusion, to call Self, the Space of Consciousness, dehi [the possessor of the Body, lit: cremation fuel] is wrong.

The World does not exist without the Body, the Body never exists without the Mind, the Mind never exists without Consciousness, & Consciousness never exists without Reality.

For the wise one who has known Self by diving within himself, there is nothing other than Self to be known.

Since the Ego which identifies the Body as “I” has perished, the wise one is the formless Existence-Consciousness.

The jnani knows he is the Self & that nothing, neither his Body nor anything else, exists but the Self.

What difference could presence or absence of a Body make ?

Fine-Tuned Universe 45:

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

Haldane asked: Must we assume that the Universe is composed at the outset of Matter – eternal, unchangeable, & independent ?  Henderson had said: Biology deals, not merely with the “efficient” causes of ordinary Physics & Chemistry, but also with what Aristotle called “final” causes.”

It is in the Biological facts that “Teleology is revealed as immanent in Nature – as of its essence & no mere accident appearing in the Physical Environment – & not only in organisms.

Haldane believed: Biological concepts must be extended to the Inorganic world.  While knowledge of how this would work is not now present, it requires only a further extension of knowledge. Haldane’s hope for the future was that: Physics & Chemistry would be penetrated by conceptions akin to those of Biology.  If this occurs, “Teleological reasoning will take a natural place in the Physical Sciences”

This is not where Henderson was going; & in a later criticism Haldane stressed how his & Henderson’s divergent views & also the extent to which Henderson’s commitment to the understanding that living things are Physico-Chemical systems further separated them.

Henderson later reported that he stepped back even farther from Teleological guides. He also stated that he

became significantly more skeptical of Metaphysics – to the extent that he regretted some of his earlier writings, seeing the discussion of “Teleology, Vitalism, & so forth, more or less irrelevant & immature.

He noted that he had been less skeptical than he should have been & claimed that much of what he wrote in attempting to explain “Fitness” in Metaphysical & Teleological terms was meaningless.  But he did not reject “Fitness” as a concept & continued to see it as a valuable, & perhaps even the most interesting, part of his Scientific work.

Henderson restated the claims he originally for the critical role of Carbon, Hydrogen, & Oxygen, which “make up a unique ensemble of properties . . . which are of the highest importance in the Evolutionary process,” making Diversity possible.

These elements, he emphasized, provide the “fittest ensemble of characteristics for durable mechanism.”  He still claimed: “For these facts I have no explanation to offer. All that I can say is that they exist, that they are antecedent to Organic adaptations, that they resemble them, & that they can hardly be due to chance.”.

“Fitness” did not challenge & provoke his contemporaries to take up the concept & use it as a guide to further scientific work. His later work on Physiological systems much more clearly evoked the laboratory labors of his contemporaries. Its detailed analysis of what he referred to as “an immensely complex system in equilibrium” served as a vigorous stimulant to further experiment & explanation.

“Fitness” remains to this day a symbol of attempts to provide broader explanation of the complexity of the Worlds of the living & the non-living. Henderson’s pre-World War I book was written at a time when the atom was gaining its redefinition at the hands of Rutherford, Rydberg, Mosley, & Bohr. This was before important new forms of chemical bonding had been established, & Biochemistry was still in its infancy.

One of  Henderson’s conjectures was that: “A possible abode of Life not unlike the earth apparently

must be a frequent occurrence in Space” & that perhaps even “‘thousands” of such planets exist. He further noted the current expectation of there being “many thousand million millions” of such possible abodes for Life.”

It is in this sense that Henderson’s “Fitness” takes on an expansive meaning. It has fueled renewed

interest in the Origin of Life & the obvious extension: the synthesis of Life in the laboratory.

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

The supposedly knowing Mind & the Universe known are both imagined.  Existence-Knowledge, which is Being-Consciousness, that alone is real.  The Reality exists without anything else.  That Self is alone the Knower & the Known, but any forms given to Knower & Known are only imagined.   Difference, which manifests only in the Mind within the Waking & Dream States, such difference is unreal.  Non-Dual Consciousness alone exists.

The ancient Sages gave their instruction in Silence & with Teaching that reveals how “That you are, (tat tvam asi).”  Inquiry into this instruction removes all ideas, of what is not the Self, from the Self.  This is like the proverbial negation the Analogy’s snake from the rope. Negation of the not-Self is never negation of a reality, but rather a negation of false assumptions or superimposition.  If real things would have to be negated, Liberation would be transitory, or not occur at all.  For how would it be possible for anything truly existent to go out of existence, or for something to actually change its nature.

Self-Inquiry & negation eliminate only Ignorance & Illusion.  All that is objective, & also the Ego, are negated by Self-Inquiry & negation summed up as neti, neti “not this, not this”.  Such reveal Being, which is Consciousness, the one Self.

The Ego is ignorantly assumed to be the Self &, thus the Knower.  The conception of the Mind determine whether one is endowed with wrong knowledge, doubtful knowledge, or true knowledge.  With mis-identification, there is wrong knowledge. Then, what is regarded as knowledge is actually Ignorance.  Thereby arises self-caused Delusion regarding Happiness, Identity, & Reality.

With spiritual practice, wrong knowledge gives way to yet-doubtful knowledge. This means there is some actual knowledge regarding Happiness, Identity, & Reality. But this knowledge is not yet steady for it is either a conviction, without direct experience, or a conviction fused with some experience. But still, it is not steady because there remains the need to destroy remaining tendencies to mis-identify.

True Knowledge, however, is that state in which Knowledge is invariable. Also, here knowing & Being are one & the same. At all times, the same Consciousness is the only Knower, even when it appears as an Ego, a dissolving Ego, or as purely Ego-less.  This is just like a clear crystal appearing as if endowed with different colors or as transparent, according to the proximity of various colors, or the absence of them. In Truth, all such states & their content are known by the Self, have their apparent existence by the Self, which is free from them & depends on no thought whatsoever to know itself.  Even so, all such states & their content do not exist apart from the Self, though the Self itself can never be other than the Knowledge, Being itself.

Calculus for Yogis, part 8

First off, we attend to one of the various topics used in introducing Derivatives, topics that we have omitted, or in this case put off so far, for the sake of simplicity.

In previous examples we had talked about   y  being a function of   x   so that  y  is graphed on the Vertical scale &  x   is graphed on a Horizontal scale.  We also said that another Independent Variable like Time,  t   could be the horizontal scale.

Well graphs aside for the moment, both  y  &  x   can be functions of   t , while   y   remains a function of   x .  In that case,  with   x   being of the function of   t   &   y  begins as a function of   x ,  then what is called  y   as a function of    t   is a “composition” of the functions  y   &  x   in terms of   x‘s   variable   t .

(y ∘ x)(t) = y(x(t))

Please know that the Rule for taking the Derivative of that Composition is called the Chain Rule.  In terms of just the differentials  d y,  d x,  d t , it looks like they could be canceled & the expression below could be proven by simple canceling of terms.  That is a useful way of remembering how it works, but it doesn’t quite work that simply. That aside the Chain Rule is:

d y/ d t  =   (d y/ d x)  x  ( d x/ d t)     –   the Chain Rule

The foregoing, that is: taking the Derivative of the function of a function, called the Derivative of a composition of functions, for purposes was a necessary prelude to an easy introduction to the next basic pattern that we had put off.  And that would be the general pattern or formula for taking the Derivative of one function times another, the Product of 2 functions.  Both are functions of the same Variable.  For instance, we can take Time as our Independent Variable & we have x & y to both be Dependent Variables, functions of Time,  t .

Then if we take the Time Derivative of the product  xy  it turns out as :

d(xy)/dt  =   y dx/dt   +   x dy/dt ,   which bears some resemblance to the Chain Rule, which it should when we consider (xy) to be a fuction of  x  &  y namely “multiplication” of the two.

d(xy)/dt  =  [d(xy)/dx]  x  [dx/dt]  + [d(xy)/dy]  x  [dy/dt]

=   y (dx/dt)  +  x (dy/dt)

thus the same Product Rule as above.  In other words, the Product Rule shows one function times the Derivative of the other, plus that other function times the Derivative of the 1^st function, as it were, taking turns having the Derivative taken while simply multiplying by the other function.  We can also affirm the simpler expression in terms of just “differentials”

d(xy)  =   x dy   +   y dx

When we take the trimmed–down inverse of the Derivative or just the “differentials”, that inverse sometimes called the Anti–Derivative, the trimmed–down Indefinite Integral, of each of those last 3 terms:

∫ d(xy)  =  xy    =  ∫  x dy   +   ∫  y dx    , or rearranged to:

∫  x dy    =    xy    –   ∫  y dx

Corresponding to the Integral expression is on in terms of sums & differences:

n                                                                          n

Σ  f_k   ∆  g_k   =   [f_n+1  g_n+1   ∆  f_m g_m]  –   Σ g_k+1  ∆  f_k

k = m                                                                    k = m

Again to put the Integral expression in other words, if taking the Integral of 1 Variable, such as  x  in terms of  y, is difficult, then we can instead take the Integral of that other Variable, such as  y  in terms of  x.  Taking the  xy  part as one kind of  “fix”  among various corrective factors, we here see for the 1^st time, a relating of:

∫  x dy     to:    ∫  y dx

The Integral pattern of is more clearly a “change of Variable” from:   x  to   y .

 x y   =   ∫ x dy    +   ∫y dx

d/dt[ x y]   =    x dy/dt    +   y dx/dt

d/[ x y]   =    x dy    +   y dx

F (z)   =   ∫ f (x)  e^–2πxz dx   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

f (x)   =   ∫ f (x)  e^2πxz dz   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

Corresponding to Integral expression is the Fourier Series in terms of Sums:

.                                          N

sin _N (x)  =   ¹/₂ A_o  +  Σ    [ A_n cos 2 nx /P    +   A_n sin 2 nx /P  ]

.                                        k = m

The Laplace transform, like the Fourier transform transforms a expression in ordinary Variables to one in a Frequency or “imaginary“–Frequency–type Variable.

F (s)   =   ∫ f (t)  e^–st dx   , taken from  –  ∞  to  ∞

f (t)   =   1/ 2πi  ∫ f (x)  e^st ds   , taken from   γ – i ∞   to   γ + i ∞

To the Integral expression there is no corresponding is the “Laplace Series” in terms of Sums.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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

NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 64:

Some   Ramana Maharshi quotes:

All that you need do is to find out the origin of the “I-thought” & abide there.  Your efforts can extend only thus far. Then the Beyond will take care of itself.

The Ego-Self appears & disappears & is transitory, whereas the real Self is permanent.

You wrongly seem to identify the real Self with the Ego-Self.  See if that mistake has come about. The Ego-Self does not exist at all.

To whom is the trouble ?  The trouble also is imagined. Trouble & pleasure are only for the Ego.

Take care of yourself.  Let the World take care of itself.  See your Self.  If you are the Body there is the gross World also.  If you are spirit all is Spirit alone.

Do it yourself 1^st  then see if the question of others arises afterwards. 

There is no goal to be reached, nothing to be attained.  You are the Self.  You exist always.  No more can be predicated of the Self than that it exists.

Seeing God or the Self is only being the Self or yourself.

Seeing is being. You, being the Self, want to know how to attain the Self. 

It is something like a man being somewhere & asking how many ways there are to reach the place & which is the best way for him. All that is required of you is to give up the thought that you are this Body & to give up all thoughts of the external things or the not-Self.     

People say they aren’t able to know the all pervading Self.

Even the smallest child says, “l exist. I do. This is mine.”

Everyone understands that the thing “I” is always existent.  Only when the “l” is there, is there feeling you are the Body.

Knowing one that is always “visible” is one’s own Self, is it necessary to search with a light ?

To say that we do not know the atma swarupa [the real nature of the Self] which is not different but which is in one‘s own Self is like saying, “l do not know myself.”

The nature of bondage is merely the rising, ruinous thought “I am different from the Reality.”  Since one surely cannot remain separate from the Reality, reject that thought whenever it rises.

 You speak of memory & oblivion of the fullness of the Self.  Oblivion & memory are only thought-forms. They will alternate so long as there are thoughts. But Reality lies beyond these. Memory or oblivion must be dependent on something. That something must be foreign to the Self as well, otherwise there would not be oblivion. That upon which memory & oblivion depend is the idea of the individual self.

 When one looks for it, this individual “I” is not found because it is not real.  Hence this “I” is synonymous with Illusion or Ignorance [maya_, , or ajnana].

To know that there never was Ignorance is the goal of all the spiritual teachings. Ignorance must be of one who is aware. Awareness is jnana.  Jnana is eternal & natural, ajnana is unnatural & unreal.

 In Deep Sleep man is devoid of possessions, including his own Body.

Instead of being unhappy he is quite happy. Everyone desires to sleep soundly.

The conclusion is that Happiness is inherent in man & is not due to external causes.

One must realize the Self in order to open the store of unalloyed Happiness.

 lf a man thinks that his Happiness is due to external causes & his possessions, it is reasonable to conclude that his Happiness must increase with the increase of possessions & diminish in proportion to their diminution. Therefore if he is devoid of possessions, his Happiness should be nil.  What is the real experience of man ?  Does it conform to this  view ?

Fine-Tuned Universe 43:

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

There is still much that we do not understand about nature. Ultimately the path is based on principles of Chemistry & Physics & Geology – that could plausibly have led from disorganized mixtures of inanimate chemicals to the astonishingly ordered, self-replicating networks of  reactions that provide the basis for life. The fact that we cannot yet understand how an inconceivably large number of tries at an extraordinarily improbable event might lead to “Life” is more a reflection of our limited ability to understand than evidence of a requirement for some new principle. But, having said all of that, we do not know whether Physical Science ultimately explains the origin of Life or whether the explanation will require principles entirely new. Science makes every effort to develop the explanation.

Science may ultimately be successful in rationalizing the origin of Life in terms of physical principles, it should be cautious & claim credit only for the puzzles it has already solved, not those whose solutions still lie in the future.  The central conundrum about the origin of Life – that, as an accidental event, it seems so very improbable – is not one that Science has yet resolved. Claiming credit prematurely – claiming, in effect, that current Science holds all the answers – may stunt the growth of the new ideas that a resolution may require.

We do not understand how Life originated. Order from disorder !  How could it have happened ?   Difficult problems may take time – lots of time – to solve.

The Fitness of the Cosmos, “bio-centric” & “fitted” for Life, “fitness” & “fine-tuning”, raises the question: why can & does Life exist in our Universe ?

Zero-point Energy & the Casimir Effect

Vacuum Zero-point Energy  is vast, seemingly large. Naively, it is infinite, limited only by absence of Planck length short wavelengths.  One phenomenon that is considered as evidence for the Vacuum Zero-point Energy is the Casimir Effect, the quantized Electro-Magnetic Field between a pair of grounded, neutral metal plates. The Vacuum Energy contains contributions from all wavelengths, except those excluded by the spacing between the plates. As the plates draw together, more wavelengths are excluded & the vacuum energy decreases.  The decrease in energy means there must be a Force doing work on the plates as they move. This Force has been measured and found to be in good agreement with the theory.  A spectral “Lamb shift” has also been thought to be partially due to a Zero-point Energy effect.

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

If one is immersed in Samsara, the repetitive Cycle of Illusion, Birth, & Deaths, filled with Suffering, the way to liberate oneself is by Self-Knowledge. Liberation, which is the goal of spiritual practice, is one’s own if, inquiring to know the Self, he discards all notions of  “me” & “mine” attains complete certitude as to the Space-like nature of Reality, & “abides” devoid of physical & mental forms, & the assumption of an Ego-entity.

If the Self would change states, such as states of Ignorance & Knowledge, of Bondage & Liberation, that Self would be destructible, & Liberation itself would be artificial or unreal. Liberation is not a change of state from one state into another state.  It is not reasonable to imagine a separation & later union in relation to the Self, for then both would be transitory. Transience cannot be attributed to the Real, just as the unreal cannot be attributed to the Real, or the dual to the Non-Dual.  Since there truly can be neither later union nor prior separation, Liberation cannot consist of an Individual entering into Brahman or Brahman coming to the Individual.  The True Nature of the Self is never destroyed, is changeless, is uncaused, & cannot be obtained or lost.  Any new appearance, or coming into being of any state would be the Effect of a precedent Cause. Such would be changeful, transitory, & not self-existent. Such cannot be permanent Liberation.  Self-Knowledge alone is Liberation.  Knowing the Self to be oneself is the greatest attainment.  To wrongly assume the non-Self to be the Self is Ignorance.

The removal of the superimposed mis-conceptions of what the Self alone is constitutes the path to Liberation.  No other view is reasonable, since such always involves some Dualism, some belief in an existent individual experiencer & a self-existent objective thing. There is also then the conception that Reality becomes other than what it is, & that the unreal actually comes to be.  Liberation cannot be a change of condition, because such involves mutability & thus destructibility, parts or divisions, & a change in its nature.

Any belief that superimposition occurs on some substrate of non-existence, or that belief that Illusion can actually create itself, or that there is no Absolute Self, all such beliefs should be abandoned. This is because of the existence of Being itself is irrefutable. Furthermore, it is not reasonable that something could come out of “nothing”. Superimposition (in Illusion) occurs on some real thing, & this for “someone” who knows the Ignorance.  What is it Ignorance of ?  And who knows is the Ignorance for ?  If one so inquires, one find that Being alone exists, Consciousness alone exists.

Calculus for Yogis, part 7

Now in a certain version of   e ^x   in what’s called “complex space”  describes a Circle even though we don’t see that in ordinary  x   &   y   coordinates, where we see a gradually rising  &  then rapidly rising curve.  The special “complex space” version is graphed as a Circle, often with Radius 1.  If we look, for instance, at a Radius heading to the upper right direction, & at the point where it intersects the Circumference, we can drop a Vertical line & create a Right Triangle that includes as a Base, the  x  axis.

The angle that the Radius line made with that x-axis Base can be called Angle  A .  To some extent  Angle  A   is characterized by the ratio of that Vertical line length to the length of X axis Base.  This “Opposite” side over “Adjacent” side ratio, called the Tangent of  A  is one of the ways to calculate the Slope, in fact the Derivative of the slanting line of the Radius.  This tangent of a, abbreviated as  “tan A”  & can in turn be considered the ratio of 2 other functions of  A.

The vertical line for this unit Radius Circle equals has a length equal to  Sine  A, abbreviated as  “sin A”.  The portion of the x-axis making up the Base has a length equal to  “Cosine A”.  [If the radius were more or less than 1, that proportion would be multiplying these functions, sin A & cos A, but have no effect on tan A.]

So whereas  tan A  is definable as “Opposite over Adjacent”,  sin A  can be defined as “Opposite side over the Radius”, the hypotenuse.  That  =  1   in this case.  The  cos A  can be just found as the  “Adjacent side length over the radius”, again just equal to that length because the Radius  =  1.

More meaningful than defining Sine & Cosine in terms of right triangles is to consider them as the Coordinates of that point of intersection of the Radius & the unit Circle formed by a complex space version of   e ^x .

In that sense some of this complicated version of   e ^x   is composed of the  Sine of  x  & Cosine x.  We see this showing up in the (Power Series) Polynomial Infinite Series for sin  x  &  cos x .

Recall that:

∞

e ^x   =  Σ   x ⁿ / n !       =    1   +  x    +   x ² / 2 !    +   x ³ / 3 !     +    ….

n  = 0

& now we compare that to:

∞

sin x  = Σ ( –1)ⁿ  x ²ⁿ⁺¹ / (2n+1) /! =   x  –   x ³ / 3 !  +   x ⁵ / 5 ! –  x ⁷ / 7 !  .

n  = 0

∞

cos x  =  Σ  ( –1)ⁿ  x ²ⁿ / 2n !  =  1   –   x ² / 2 !   +   x ⁴ / 4 !   –   x ⁶ / 6 !  ….

n  = 0

Again, the alternating Minus signs arise out of the “complex space” relationship.

Thus we reduce more complicated Exponential & Trigonometric functions to more ordinary Polynomial terms & compare the Polynomial series for  e ^x  with the Polynomial series for  sin x  &  cos x  because we know how to take the Derivative of those terms.

We previously took the Derivative of that expression for  e ^x ,  term by term, to show that the Derivative the of each of terms numerically goes back to, is equal to our initial  e ^x   .

Doing the same for  sin x  &  cos x,  we find that the Derivative each of terms goes back to terms of the other Series,  sin x  to  cos x,  &  vice versa. except that the Minus signs are reversed in the 2^nd case.  That is, the exercise shows that: the Derivative of   sin x  is =   cos x,  &  the Derivative of  cos x  is  =   –   sin x .

We saw that we can look at the inverse of the Derivative, in a matter speaking, which is called the Integral, with the so-called “indefinite” Integral. We truly have that inverse to within a added constant, leaving that added constant out, or making it be a 0,  Then we can treat the Indefinite Integral as if it was the inverse of the Derivative.

So looking at a couple of Polynomials like  7 x²  +  4 x  + 3,  we saw that the Derivative is 14 x  +  4 , & for Integral we go the other way to:  ⁷/₃ x³  +  ⁴/₂ x  + 3x  +  a constant.

Up until now we delayed introducing any version of the symbol for the integral because it’s unduly strange looking, scary, and off putting to the uninitiated.  But will simplify it by saying that the symbol is based on a big “S”.  In fact since it’s a Roman alphabet “S”, in a way. it’s less exotic than the Greek capital “S”, Sigma that we saw for a generic term representation of an Infinite Series.  In any case, that statement just above can be rewritten symbolically as:

d/d x [7 x²  +  4 x  + 3]   =   14 x  +  4                                        (Derivative)    &

∫ [7 x²  +  4 x  + 3] d x    =   ⁷/₃ x³  +  ⁴/₂ x  + 3x  +  a constant     (Integral)

The Analogy we drew was that the Derivative is the projected Perspective toward Happiness, viewing toward the estimated Future, based on the immediate past average; & the Integral is an accumulated memory or record by which we define Reality & Identity , instead of the Happiness.  Looking at these rather complex looking structures created on paper, we van so peak at the Mind, much as elsewhere we compare the Mind to Mathematical Coordinate Spaces.  Math mirrors Mind.

Now there are special reasons for seemingly idle curiosity about sin x   &   cos x .  For one thing, these 2 functions are the building blocks of the many “wave” phenomena that we see in the Sciences.  Back in the area of Mathematics, but Mathematics very applicable to Science, the sin x  &  cos x  are also building blocks for the Fourier transforms.  Fourier transforms & Laplace transforms, Quantum Mechanical Correlation, & similar topics will also be introduced by taking a closer look at the Integral in general.

Derivatives & Integrals can often be determined by systematic rules, like the Power Rule such as is the case for Polynomials.  But in other cases when we take the Integral, solving is more of an art form,  Detective intuition, trial & error, & so forth yield some basic processes, one being Integration by Parts.  We pause in our discussion to look at Integration by parts because it will serve as a foundation for the idea of a Transform.

What we will see is actually closer in form to Conjugate Variables in Quantum Mechanics, which are the basis for the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Quantum Mechanics also uses the Fourier transform to move from ordinary Distance Space to a Transform of that, called Momentum Space. And so with these motivations we will look at Integration by Parts.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

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

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

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

“There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth.”  –  the “no creation” school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

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