Mind & Happiness 10

Though in his Teachings Sri Ramana borrowed some of the terminology, concepts & analogies commonly used in the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, his Teachings are not merely a repetition of the old & familiar teachings contained in that literature.  Because he was teaching the Truth that he had known from his own direct experience, & not merely learnt from books, he was able to set aside all the dense mass of non-essential, complex & ponderous arguments & concepts found in that literature [including in some of the Shankara tradition literature], & to throw a fresh & clear light upon the inner essence of advaita vēdānta.

In his Teachings he has revealed the true spirit of advaita vēdānta in a clear & simple manner that can easily be understood even by people who have no previous acquaintance with such Philosophy.  Moreover, the simplicity, clarity & directness of his Teachings have helped to clear the confusion created in the Minds of many people who have studied the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, but have been misled by the many well-established misinterpretations of it made by scholars who had no direct experience of the Truth.

In particular, his Teachings have cleared up many misunderstandings that had long existed about the practice of advaita vēdānta, & have clearly revealed the means by which we can attain the experience of true Self-Knowledge.  Since the means to attain Self-Knowledge is for some reason seldom stated in clear & unambiguous terms in the classical literature of advaita vēdānta, many misconceptions exist about the spiritual practice advocated by advaita vēdānta.  Therefore perhaps the most significant contribution made by Sri Ramana to the literature of advaita vēdānta lies in the fact that in his Teachings he has revealed in very clear, precise & unambiguous terms the practical means by which Self-Knowledge can be attained.

Not only has he explained this practical means very clearly, he has also explained exactly how it will lead us infallibly to the state of Self-Knowledge, & why it is the only means that can do so. Unlike many of the older texts of advaita vēdānta, the Teachings of Sri Ramana are centered entirely around the practical means by which we can attain Self-Knowledge, & all that he taught regarding any aspect of Life was aimed solely at directing our Minds towards this practice.

Though this practical means is essentially very simple, for many people it appears difficult to comprehend, because it is not an action or state of “doing”, nor does it involve any form of objective attention.  Since the practice is thus a state beyond all mental activity – a state of non-doing & non-objective attention – no words can express it perfectly. Therefore, to enable us to understand & practice it, Sri Ramana has expressed & described it in various different ways, each of which serves as a valuable clue that helps us to know & to be the pure Consciousness that is our own True Self.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 09

The word vēdānta literally means the “conclusion” or “end” (anta) of “knowledge” (vēda), & denotes the philosophical conclusions of the Vēdas.  These philosophical conclusions are contained in Vedic texts known as the Upaniṣads, & were later expressed more clearly & in greater detail in 2 other ancient texts known as the Brahma Sūtra & the Bhagavad Gītā.

These 3 bodies of literature, which are known as the “triple source” (prasthāna-traya) of vēdānta, have been interpreted in very different ways, giving rise to 3 distinct systems of vēdāntic philosophy, the pure monistic system known as advaita, the dualistic system known as dvaita, & the qualified monistic system known as viśiṣṭādvaita.  Of these 3 systems of philosophy, advaita is not only the most radical but also the least convoluted interpretation of the ancient prasthāna-traya of vēdānta, & hence it is widely recognized as being vēdānta in its purest & truest form.

However, advaita is more than just a scholarly interpretation of some ancient texts.  Like the literature of any other system of religious or spiritual philosophy, the literature of advaita includes a huge amount of elaborate & abstruse material written by & for scholars, but such material is not the essence or basis of the advaita philosophy. The Life & Heart of advaita

vēdānta lies in a number of crucial texts that contain the sayings & writings of Sages like Sri Ramana who had attained true Self-Knowledge, & whose words therefore reflect their own direct experience of the Reality.

Thus advaita vēdānta is a system of spiritual philosophy that is based not upon mere reasoning or intellectual speculation, but upon the experience of Sages who have attained direct Knowledge of the Non-Dual Reality that underlies the appearance of all multiplicity.

The word advaita literally means “no-2–ness” or “Non-Duality”, & denotes the Truth experienced by Sages – the Truth that the Reality is only One, a single undivided whole that is completely devoid of any Duality or Multiplicity. According to Sages who have attained true Self-Knowledge, all Multiplicity is a mere appearance, a distorted view of the one Reality, like the illusory appearance of a Snake seen in a dim light.  Just as the Reality underlying the illusory appearance of the Snake is just a Rope lying on the ground, so the Reality underlying the illusory appearance of Multiplicity is only the Non-Dual Consciousness of Existence that we each experience as “I exist”.

Sri Ramana”s Teachings are therefore identified with advaita vēdānta for 3 main reasons:

1^stly because he experienced & taught the same Non-Dual Reality that was experienced by the Sages whose sayings & writings formed the foundation of the advaita vēdānta philosophy;

2^ndly because he was often asked to explain & elucidate various texts from the classical literature of advaita vēdānta; &

3^rdly because in his Teachings he made free but nevertheless selective use of the terminology, concepts & analogies used in that classical advaita vēdānta literature. The reason he thus used the terminology & concepts of advaita vēdānta more than those of any other spiritual tradition, such as Buddhism [Huang Po, etc.], Taoism [Lao Tse], Jewish [Melchesedek ?], or Christian [Eckhart]  mysticism, or Sufism [Ib’n Arabi’s inerviewee], is that most of the people who sought his spiritual guidance were more familiar with advaita vēdānta than with those other spiritual traditions, & hence it was easier for them to understand such terminology & concepts.

However, whenever anyone asked him to elucidate any text or passage from the literature of those other spiritual traditions, he did so with the same ease, clarity & authority that he elucidated the texts of advaita vēdānta.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 08

Of the 4 words of the name “Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi”, only the word “Ramana” is a personal name, & the other 3 words are titles of various sorts.  “Ramana” is a shortened form of “Venkataramana”, a variant of his childhood name “Venkataraman”, & is a word that is commonly used as a term of affection.  Whereas in the name “Venkataraman”, the letter “a” in the syllable “ra” is a long form of the vowel & is therefore pronounced with a stress, in the name “Ramana” all the 3 “a” ’s are short forms of the vowel, & therefore none of the 3 syllables are pronounced with any stress.  Etymologically, the word ramaṇa comes from the verbal root ram, which means to stop, to set at rest, to make steady or calm, to delight or to make happy, & is a noun that means “joy” or that which gives joy, that which is pleasing, charming or delightful. By extension it is used as an affectionate term meaning a beloved person, a lover, husband or wife, or the lord or mistress of one’s heart.

The word bhagavān is an honorific & affectionate title meaning the glorious, adorable & divine Lord, & is used generally as a term meaning “God”, & more particularly as a title of veneration given to a person who is considered to be an incarnation of God or a human embodiment of the Supreme Reality, such as the Buddha, Sri Adi Sankara, or most commonly Sri Krishna, whose teachings are given in the Bhagavad Gītā & in parts of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

The word śrī is a sacred monosyllable meaning light, luster, radiance or splendor, & is customarily used as an honorific prefix appended to the names of holy people, places, texts or other objects of veneration. As a reverential prefix, it means “sacred”, “holy”, or “venerable”.  But it is also commonly used as a simple title of respect which may be appended to the name of any person in place of the English title “Mister”.

The word maharṣi (which is commonly transcribed as “maharshi”) means a great ṛṣi (commonly transcribed as “rishi”) or “seer”.  To the World at large, particularly outside India, Sri Ramana is generally known as “Ramana Maharshi” (probably because to a western Mind the title “Maharshi” placed after his personal name appears to be a surname, which it is not), & since he is so frequently referred to as such, some people even refer to him simply as “the Maharshi”.

However those who are close to him seldom use the title “Maharshi” when referring to him.  In Indian history & mythology, the term ṛṣi originally denoted one of the inspired poets or “seers” who “saw” & wrote down the hymns of the Vēdas, or any person who was adept in the performance of Vedic rituals & had thereby attained psychic or supernatural powers, but in later times it was used more generally to denote an ascetic or saint who was considered to have achieved some degree of spiritual attainment.  The term ṛṣi has therefore never specifically meant a person who has “seen” or attained true Self-Knowledge, & nor has the term maharṣi (maha-ṛṣi). The few ṛṣis, such as Vasishtha, & later Viswamitra, who did attain true knowledge of brahman, the Absolute Reality or God, were called not merely maha-ṛṣis but brahma-ṛṣis, a term that denotes a ṛṣi of the highest order.  Hence many people feel that it is not particularly appropriate to apply the title “Maharshi” to Sri Ramana, who had attained true knowledge of brahman, & who therefore can be accurately described as Existence nothing less than a brahma-ṛṣi.

Besides being not particularly appropriate, the title “Maharshi” sounds rather cold & distant when applied to Sri Ramana, so rather than referring to him as “the Maharshi”, his disciples & devotees usually prefer to refer to him by the more affectionate & respectful title “Bhagavan”.  Here we will refer to him by his personal name as “Sri Ramana” or “Bhagavan Ramana”.

To all those who have followed his teachings & thereby attained the blissful state of true Self-Knowledge, he is “Ramana”, the beloved giver of joy, & “Bhagavan”, a gracious embodiment of God, the Supreme Reality, which he discovered to be his own True Self, & which he prompted & guided each one of us to discover likewise as our own True Self.  Sri Ramana is not merely an individual person who lived sometime in the Past, nor does he belong to any particular religion or culture.  He is the eternal & unlimited spirit, the Ultimate & Absolute Reality, our own True Self, & as such he always lives within each one of us as our pure & essential Consciousness of Existence, which we each experience as “I exist”.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana never sought of his own accord to teach anyone the Truth that he had come to know, because in his experience that Truth – the Consciousness “I exist” – alone exists, & hence there is no person either to give or to receive any Teaching.  However, though he inwardly knew that Consciousness is the only Reality, he was nevertheless outwardly a personification of Love, compassion & kindness.  Knowing both himself & all other things to be nothing but the Consciousness “I exist”, he saw himself in everything, & hence he quite literally loved all living beings as his own Self.  Therefore, when people asked him questions about the Reality & the means of attaining it, he patiently answered their questions, & thus without any volition on his part he gradually revealed a wealth of spiritual teachings.

Many of the answers that he thus gave were recorded in writing, more or less accurately, by his devotees & disciples, but the most accurate & authentic record of his teachings lies in the poetry that he himself wrote, mostly in Tamil, & also in Sanskrit, Telugu & Malayalam. Most of the poetry he wrote was in response to requests made by his disciples, but some of it was composed by him spontaneously.  His poetry falls into 2 general categories – poems that directly convey spiritual teachings, & devotional hymns that convey spiritual teachings indirectly in the allegorical language of mystical love.

Since he was asked questions on a wide range of subjects by people whose interests & level of understanding varied greatly, the answers that he gave were in each case tailored to the needs of the person he was talking to, & hence they did not always reflect the essence of his Teachings.

Therefore when we read the various records of the conversations that he had with people, they may appear to contain inconsistencies, & to convey no single, clear or coherent set of Teachings. However, a very clear, coherent & consistent account of his central Teachings can be found in his poetry & other writings, & if we read all the records of his conversations in the light of those central Teachings, we can clearly understand that he had a very definite message for all who were ready to hear it.

Before he attained the experience of true Self-Knowledge, Sri Ramana had not read or heard anything that described that experience, or prepared him in any way for it.  Having been brought up in a normal family of south Indian brahmins, he was familiar with the outward forms of the Hindu religion & with a few devotional texts, & having been educated in a Christian missionary school, he was familiar with the outward forms of Christianity & with the Bible.  Moreover, having had some childhood friends who were from Muslim families, he also had some familiarity with the outward forms of Islam.  But though he had a general idea that all these religions were just different ways of worshipping the same one God, he had had no opportunity to learn anything about the real inner essence that lies behind the outward forms of all religions.

The Teachings that he gave in later years were therefore derived entirely from his own inward experience, & did not originate from any outward learning.  However, whenever anyone asked him to explain any sacred or spiritual text, he would read it & would often recognize that in one way or another it was expressing the Truth that was his own experience. Thus he was able to interpret such texts with authority & to explain their inner meaning in clear & simple words.

Since the cultural & religious milieu in which he lived was predominantly Hindu, & since most of the people who sought his spiritual guidance were either born Hindus or were familiar with traditional Hindu philosophy, the texts he was most often asked to explain were those of the Hindu philosophical tradition known as advaita vēdānta. Thus Sri Ramana’s teachings are often identified with advaita vēdānta & are taken to be a modern expression or interpretation of that ancient philosophy.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 07

Even more rare than those highly mature souls who are able to experience the Truth as soon as they hear it, there are some people who without ever hearing the Truth experience it spontaneously.  But such people are very rare indeed.  The sage known as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was one such extremely rare Existence who experienced the Truth spontaneously without ever having heard or read anything about it.  He spontaneously attained the experience of true Self-Knowledge one day in July 1896, when he was just a 16-year-old schoolboy.  That day he was sitting alone in a room in his uncle’s house in the south Indian town of Madurai, when suddenly & with no apparent cause an intense fear of death arose within him.

Instead of trying to put this fear out of his Mind, as most of us would do, he decided to investigate & discover for himself the truth about death. “All right, death has come !  What is death ?  What is it that dies ?  This Body is going to die – let it die.”  Deciding thus, he lay down like a corpse, rigid & without breathing, & turned his Mind inwards to discover what Death would actually do to him.  He later described the Truth that dawned upon him at that moment as follows:

“This Body is dead. It will now be taken to the cremation ground, burnt, & reduced to ashes. But with the destruction of this Body, am I also destroyed ?  Is this Body really “I” ?  Although this Body is lying Lifeless as a corpse, I know that I exist. Unaffected in the least by this death, my Existence is shining clearly. Therefore I am not this Body which dies. I am the ‘I’ which is indestructible. Of all things, I alone am the Reality. This Body is subject to Death, but I, who transcend the Body, am that which lives eternally. The Death that came to this Body cannot affect me.”

Although he described his experience of Death in so many words, he explained that this Truth actually dawned upon him in an instant, not as reasoning or verbalized thoughts, but as a direct experience, without the least action of Mind.  So intense was his fear & consequent urge to know the truth of Death, that without actually thinking anything he turned his attention away from his rigid & Lifeless Body & towards the innermost core of his Existence – his essential, unadulterated & Non-Dual Self–Consciousness “I exist”.  Because his attention was so keenly focused on his Consciousness of Existence, the True Nature of that Existence-Consciousness revealed itself as a flash of direct & certain Knowledge – Knowledge that was so direct & certain that it could never be doubted.

Thus Sri Ramana discovered himself to be the pure Trans–personal Consciousness “I exist”, which is the one, un-limited, un-divided & Non-Dual whole, the only existing Reality, the Source & substance of all things, & the True Self of every living Existence.  This Knowledge of his Real Nature destroyed in him forever the sense of Identification with the physical Body – the feeling of Existence an individual person, a separate conscious entity confined within the limits of a particular Time & Place.

Along with this dawn of Non-Dual Self-Knowledge, the Truth of everything else became clear to him.  By knowing himself to be the Infinite Spirit, the fundamental Consciousness “I exist”, in which & through which all other things are known, he knew as an immediate experience how those other things appear & disappear in this essential Consciousness.  Thus he knew without the least doubt that everything that appears & disappears depends for its seeming existence upon this fundamental Consciousness, which he knew to be his Real Self.

When reading some of the recorded accounts of his Death experience, people often get the impression that when he lay down like a corpse, that Sri Ramana merely simulated the signs of physical Death.  But he explained on several occasions that he did not merely simulate it, but actually underwent the experience of physical death at that Time. Because he fixed his whole attention so firmly & intensely upon his Non-Dual Consciousness of Existence, not only did his breathing cease, but his heart stopped beating.  All the other biological functions that indicate Life also came to a standstill.  Thus his Body literally lay Lifeless for about 20 minutes, until suddenly Life surged through it once again, & his heartbeat & breath started to function as normal.

However, though Life returned to his physical Body, the person who had previously identified that Body as “I” was dead, having been destroyed forever by the clear light of true Self-Knowledge.  But though he had died as an individual person, he had thereby been born again as the Infinite Spirit – the fundamental & unlimited Consciousness of Existence, the Non-Dual Self–Consciousness “I exist”.

Though outwardly he appeared to behave as an individual person, his personality was in fact just an appearance that existed only in the view of other people, like the charred form of a rope that remains after the rope itself has been burnt.  Inwardly he knew himself to be the all-inclusive Consciousness that transcends all limitations, & not merely a separate individual Consciousness confined within the limits of a particular Body.

Therefore, the conscious Existence that other people saw acting through his Body was not really an individual person at all, but was only the Supreme Spirit – the Infinite & Absolute Reality that we usually refer to as “God”.  Soon after this true Self-Knowledge dawned upon him, Sri Ramana left his childhood home & traveled a few hundred miles north to Tiruvannamalai, a temple town nestled at the foot of the holy mountain Arunachala, where he lived as a sādhu or religious mendicant for the remaining 54 years of his bodily Life.  Since he had ceased to identify himself with the Body that other people mistook to be him, he also ceased to identify with the name that had previously been given to that Body. Therefore, from the Time he left home, he stopped using his childhood name Venkataraman, & he signed his parting note with just a line.

Thus when he first came to Tiruvannamalai, no one there knew his name, so they referred to him by various names of their choosing.  More than 10 years later, however, one of his devotees, who was a Sanskrit poet & Vedic scholar, announced that he should be called “Bhagavan Sri Ramana

Maharshi”, & somehow this became the name by which he was generally known thereafter.

However, till the end of his bodily Life, Sri Ramana never claimed this or any other name as his own, & he always declined to sign any signature, even when asked to do so.  When he was once asked why he never signed his name, he replied:

“By what name am I to be known ?  I myself do not know.  At various Times various people have called me by various different names”.

Because he did not experience himself as an individual person, but knew himself to be the One Reality, which is the source & substance of all names & forms, but which has no name or form of its own, he responded to whatever name people called him, without ever identifying any of those names as his own.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 06

For the majority of spiritual aspirants, the process of attaining Self-Knowledge, like the process of learning any other Knowledge, is said to be a 3–fold process of repeated śravaṇa, manana & nididhyāsana, or learning, assimilation & practice.  The Sanskrit word śravaṇa literally means “hearing”, but in this context it means learning the Truth by hearing, reading or studying.

The word manana means thinking, pondering, musing, reflection or meditation, that is, dwelling frequently upon the Truth that we have learned through śravaṇa in order to imbibe it & understand it more & more clearly, & to impress it upon our Mind more & more firmly.

And the word nididhyāsana means keen observation, scrutiny, attentiveness or profound contemplation, that is, in our context, putting what we have learned & understood by śravaṇa & manana into practice by keenly scrutinizing, attending to or contemplating upon our essential Self-Conscious Existence, “I exist”.  In the Life of a serious spiritual aspirant, this 3–fold process of śravaṇa, manana & nididhyāsana should continue repeatedly until the experience of true Self-Knowledge is attained.  In our day-to-day lives our Mind encounters innumerable different impressions through our 5 Senses, & thinks innumerable thoughts about those impressions.  So the impression made by 1 thing is quickly replaced by the impression made by other things.

Therefore even though we have once learnt about the spiritual Truth – the Truth that we are not the limited Body but are only the unlimited spirit or Consciousness – the impression made by that truth will quickly fade if we do not repeatedly study books that remind us of it, & frequently reflect upon it in our Mind.

However mere reading & thinking about the Truth will be of little benefit to us if we do not also repeatedly attempt to put it into practice by turning our attention back to our mere Consciousness of Existence, “I exist”, whenever we notice that it has slipped away to think of other things.

To stress the paramount importance of such practice, Sri Adi Sankara declared in verse 364 of Vivēkacūḍāmaṇi that the benefit of manana is a 100x greater than that of śravaṇa, & the benefit of nididhyāsana is a 100,000x greater than that of manana.

For some very rare souls, repeated śravaṇa, manana & nididhyāsana is not necessary, because as soon as they first hear the Truth, they at once grasp its meaning & importance, turn their attention  Self– wards, & thereby immediately experience true Self-Knowledge.  But the majority of us do not have the spiritual maturity to be able to experience the Truth as soon as we hear it, because we are too strongly attached to our existence as an individual person, & to all that is associated with our Life as a person.

By repeated nididhyāsana or Self-Contemplation, supported by the aid of repeated śravaṇa & manana, our Consciousness of our own essential Existence & our corresponding understanding of the Truth will become increasingly clear, & by that increasing clarity we will steadily gain more love to know our self as we really are, along with more Detachment from our Individuality & all that is associated with it.  Therefore, until we gain such true spiritual maturity – the willingness & love to lose our individual self in the experience of true Non-Dual Self-Knowledge – we have to continue the process of repeated śravaṇa, manana & nididhyāsana.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 05

If we truly understand that we are not a Body, nor the Mind which imagines itself to be a Body, & that every form of un–happiness that we experience is caused only by our mistaken Identification with a Body, we will endeavor to destroy that false Identification by undertaking practical research to discover who or what we really are. To know what we really are, we must cease attending to any other things, & must attend instead to our self, the Consciousness that knows those other things.

When we attend to things other than “I”, our attention is a “thought” or activity of the Mind. But when we attend to our essential Consciousness “I”, our attention ceases to be an activity or “thought”, & instead becomes mere Existence.  We know other things by an act of knowing, but we know our self not by an act of knowing but by merely Existence our self.  Therefore, when we attend to the innermost core of our Existence – that is, to our essential & real Self, which is simple thought-free Non-Dual, Self-Conscious Existence – we cease to rise as the incessantly active Mind & instead remain merely as our naturally action-less Consciousness of Existence.  Therefore Self-Attention is Self–Abidance, the state of mere Existence as what we really are.

So long as we attend to things other than our self, our Mind is active, & its activity clouds & obscures our natural clarity of Self-Consciousness.  But when we try to attend to our self, the activity of our Mind begins to subside, & thus the veil that obscures our natural Self-Consciousness begins to dissolve. The more keenly & intensely we focus our attention upon our basic Consciousness “I”, the more our Mind will subside, until finally it disappears in the clear light of true Self-Knowledge.

The theory of this Knowledge of Self-Knowledge is necessary & helpful to us insofar as it enables us to understand not only the imperative need for us to know the Reality, but also the practical means by which we can achieve such Knowledge.

All the un–happiness, discontent & Suffering that we experience in our Life is caused only by our Ignorance or confused knowledge of who or what we really are.  So long as we limit our self by identifying a Body as “I”, we will feel desire for whatever we think is necessary for our survival in that Body, & for whatever we think will make our Life in that Body more comfortable & pleasant.  Likewise we will feel fear & dislike of whatever we think threatens our survival in that Body, & of whatever we think will make our Life in it less comfortable or pleasant.  When we do not get whatever we desire or like, & when we cannot avoid whatever we fear or dislike, we feel unhappy, discontented or miserable.

Thus un–happiness or Suffering is the inevitable result of desire & fear, or likes & dislikes. Desire & fear, & likes & dislikes, are the inevitable result of identifying a Body as “I”.  And identifying a Body as “I” results from our lack of clear knowledge of our Real Nature – our essential Self-Conscious Existence. Therefore if we want to be free of all forms of Suffering & un–happiness, we must free our self from our Ignorance or confused knowledge of what we really are.

In order to free our self from this confused knowledge, which makes us feel that we are a Body, we must attain a clear Knowledge of our Real Self.  The only means by which we can attain such clear Self-Knowledge is to turn our attention away from our Body, our Mind & all other things, & to focus it keenly upon our own essential Self-Consciousness – our fundamental Consciousness of our own Existence, “I exist”.

Thus the theory that underlies the Knowledge of Self-Knowledge enables us to understand that all we need do in order to experience perfect & unlimited Happiness is to attain true Self-Knowledge, & that the only means to attain true Self-Knowledge is to practice keen scrutinizing Self–Attention.  Unless we know our self as we really are, we can never experience true & perfect Happiness, untainted by even the least un–happiness or dis–satisfaction.  And unless we keenly attend to our essential Consciousness of our own mere Existence – our simple Non-Dual Self-Consciousness, “I exist” – we can never know our self as we really are.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 04

When we say, “I slept peacefully, I had no Dreams, I was unaware of anything,” we are confidently affirming that “I” was in Deep Dreamless Sleep – that is, that we existed & knew that we existed at that time.  Because we associate Consciousness with Existence, conscious of all the thoughts & perceptions that make up our Life in Waking & in Dream, we consider Deep Dreamless Sleep to be a state of un–consciousness.

But we should examine the so-called un–consciousness of Deep Dreamless Sleep more carefully. The Consciousness that knows thoughts & perceptions is our Mind, which rises & is active in Waking &  Dream, but which subsides in sleep. But this rising & subsiding Consciousness is not our real Consciousness. We are conscious not only of the 2 States of Waking & Dream, in which our Mind rises to experience thoughts & perceptions, but also of a 3^rd State, Deep Dreamless Sleep, in which our Mind has subsided in a State devoid of thoughts & perceptions.

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

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

Thus, by analyzing our experience in our 3 States of Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep, we can understand that though we now mistake our Self to be a Body limited by Time & Space, we are in fact the Consciousness that underlies the appearance of these 3 States, in only 2 of which the sense of being a Body & the consequent limitations of Time & Space are experienced.

However, a mere theoretical understanding of the Truth that we are only Consciousness will be of little use to us if we do not apply it in practice by endeavoring to gain real experiential Knowledge of that Truth. By itself, a theoretical understanding will not & cannot give us true & lasting Happiness, because it cannot destroy our deep-rooted sense of Identification with the Body, which is the root of all Ignorance, & the cause of all Suffering.

That which understands this Truth theoretically is only our Mind or Intellect, & our Mind cannot function without first identifying itself with a Body. Since our Mind or Intellect is thus a confused knowledge whose existence is rooted in Ignorance about who or what we really are, no intellectual understanding can ever by itself give us true Self-Knowledge.  Self-Knowledge can only be gained by direct experience of the pure unlimited Consciousness which is our Real Self, because only such experience can root out the Ignorance that we are anything other than that Consciousness.

Therefore a theoretical understanding of the Truth can be of real benefit to us only if it prompts us to investigate our essential Consciousness of Existence – our simple Self-Consciousness, “I exist” – & thereby attain, through direct experience, a clear Knowledge of our own True Nature. Only by attaining such a clear Knowledge of the Consciousness that is truly “I”, can we destroy our primal Ignorance, the confused & mistaken knowledge that we are the Mind, the limited form of Consciousness that identifies a Body as “I”.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 03

That which thus mistakes this Body to be “I” is our Mind. Our Mind comes into existence only by imagining itself to be a Body. In Deep Dreamless Sleep we are unaware of either our Mind or our Body. As soon as we wake up, our Mind rises feeling “I am the Body”, “I am called so-&-so,” &  only after thus identifying itself as a particular Body does it perceive the external World through the 5 Senses of that Body.

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

Thus from our experience in Dream we all know that our Mind has a wonderful power of imagination by which it is able to create a Body, to mistake that imaginary Body to be “I” &  through that Body (via the Senses) to project a World which, at the Time we perceive it, appears to be every bit as real & external to us as the World that we now perceive in this Waking State.  Knowing that our Mind possesses this wonderful power of creation & self-deception, is it not reasonable for us to suspect that the Body we take to be “I” & the World we take to be real in our present Waking state may in fact be nothing more than a mere imagination or mental projection, just like the Body & World that we experience in Dream ?

What evidence do we have that the Body & World we experience in this Waking state are anything other than a creation of our own Mind ?  We may be able to point out certain differences between Waking & Dream, but on analysis we will discover that those differences are superficial, “existence” concerned with quality or quantity rather than with substance.

If we compare the World drama we see in Waking or Dream to a drama we see on a cinema screen, we may say that the drama seen in Waking is a better quality & more impressive production than that seen in Dream, but both are productions none the less – productions not of some external agency but of our Mind which sees them.

In substance, there is no essential difference between our experience in Waking & that in Dream. In both states our Mind rises, attaching itself to a Body by taking it to be “I”, &  through the Senses of that Body it sees a World bound within the limits of Time & Space, & filled with numerous people & other objects, both sentient & insentient, all of which it is convinced are real. How can we prove to our self that what we experience in the Waking state exists at all outside our own imagination, any more than a Dream exists outside our Imagination ?

When we carefully analyze our experience in our 3 States of Waking, Dream & Deep Dreamless Sleep, it is clear that we are able to confuse our Consciousness “I” to be different things at different Times. In the Waking State we mistake our present Body to be “I”, in Dream we mistake some other imaginary Dream–Body to be “I”, &  in Deep Dreamless Sleep we mistake un–consciousness to be “I” – or at least on Waking from Deep Dreamless Sleep what we remember is that “I was unconscious.”

What we were in fact un–conscious of in Deep Dreamless Sleep was our Mind, our Body & the World, but not our own Existence. Our experience in Deep Dreamless Sleep was not that we ceased to exist, but only that we ceased to be aware of all the thoughts & perceptions that we are accustomed to experiencing in the Waking & Dream States.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 02

The Knowledge of Existence is fundamentally unlike all other Knowledge because it is not a Knowledge that involves doing anything. It is a Knowledge not of doing but of non–doing – a Knowledge of just Existence.

The state of just Existence is one in which our Mind does not rise to do, think or know anything, yet it is a state of full Consciousness – Consciousness not of anything else but only of Existence. The skill that is to be learnt in this Knowledge is not simply the skill to exist – because we always exist & therefore require no special skill or effort to exist – nor is it merely the skill to exist without doing or thinking anything – because we are able to exist so each day in Deep Dreamless Sleep. The skill to be cultivated is the skill to remain calmly & peacefully without doing or thinking anything, but nevertheless retaining a perfectly clear Consciousness of Existence – that is, Consciousness of our own Existence or essential “am“-ness. Only in this pristine state of clear Non-Dual Self–Conscious Existence, unclouded by the distracting agitation of thought & action, will the True Nature of Existence become perfectly clear, obvious, self–evident & free from even the least scope for doubt or confusion.

Our first &  most direct experience of Existence is that of our own Existence. First we know that we exist, & then only can we know of the existence of other things. But whereas our own Existence is Self-Conscious, the existence of each other thing depends on us to be known.

We know our own Existence because we are Consciousness. In other words, our Existence is itself the Consciousness that knows itself. It knows itself because it is essentially Self-Conscious. Thus it is reasonable to hypothesize that Consciousness is the primal &  essential form of Existence. Without Consciousness, Existence would be unknown, & without Existence, Consciousness would not exist.

Our Existence & our Consciousness of Existence are inseparable – in fact they are identical – &  both are expressed by the single phrase “I exist”. This Existence-Consciousness, “I exist”, is our most fundamental experience, & the most fundamental experience of every sentient Existence.

“I exist” is the one basic Consciousness – the essential Non-Dual Self-Consciousness – without which nothing would be known.  “I exist” is therefore the source & foundation of all knowledge.

What then is the use of knowing anything else if we do not know the Truth of our own Existence-Consciousness, our Self-Consciousness, “I exist”, on the basis of which all else is known ?  All that we know about the World & all that we know about God – all our sciences &  all our religions – are of no real value to us if we do not know the Truth about our Self, that who desires to know the Truth about the World & God.

We are the Existence-Consciousness “I exist”, yet our knowledge about this “I exist” is confused. We all believe “I am this Body”, “I am a person”, “I am called so-&-so, & was born on such-&-such a date at such-&-such a place.” Thus we identify our Consciousness “I exist” with a particular Body.

This identification is the result of a confused & unclear knowledge of the True Nature of Consciousness.  Our Consciousness “I exist” is not something material, whereas our Body is

merely a bundle of physical matter, which is not inherently conscious. Yet somehow we are deluded into mistaking this material Body to be our Consciousness “I”. As a result of our unclear knowledge of Consciousness, we mistake matter to be conscious, &  Consciousness to be something material.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Mind & Happiness 01

[After an interval of ill health interruption this Blog continues with a new series called “Mind & Happiness”.  After a time the previous series “Reality” will resume.]

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

Whatever turmoil our Mind may be in, in the centre of our Existence there always exists a state of perfect peace & joy, like the calm in the eye of a storm. Desire & fear agitate our Mind, & obscure from its view the Happiness that always exists within it. When a desire is satisfied, or the cause of a fear is removed, the surface agitation of our Mind subsides, & in that temporary calm our Mind enjoys a taste of its own innate Happiness.

Happiness is thus a state of Existence – a state in which our Mind’s habitual agitation is calmed. The activity of our Mind disturbs it from its calm state of just Existence, & causes it to lose sight of its own innermost Happiness. To enjoy Happiness, therefore, all our Mind need do is to cease all activity, returning calmly to its natural state of inactive Existence, as it does daily in Deep Dreamless Sleep.

Therefore to master the Knowledge of being happy, we must master the Knowledge of just Existence. We must discover what the innermost core of our Existence is, & we must learn to abide consciously & constantly in that state of pure Existence, which underlies &  supports (but nevertheless remains unaffected by) all the superficial activities of our Mind: thinking, feeling & perceiving, remembering &  forgetting, & so on.

The Knowledge of just Existence, remaining fully conscious but without any activity of the Mind, is not only Knowledge – a practical skill that can be cultivated & applied to produce an experience of inexpressible beauty & joy – but also an attempt to acquire true Knowledge by keen observation & rigorous experiment. And this Knowledge of Existence is not only the Knowledge of Happiness, but also the Knowledge of Consciousness, & Self-Knowledge.

The Knowledge of Existence is incredibly simple & clear. To the human Mind, however, it may appear to be complex & abstruse, not because it is in any way complex in itself, but because the Mind which tries to comprehend it is such a complex bundle of thoughts & emotions – desires, fears, anxieties, attachments, long-cherished beliefs &  preconceived ideas – that it tends to cloud the pure simplicity & clarity of Existence, making what is obvious appear to be obscure.

Like any other knowledge, the Knowledge of Existence begins with observation & analysis of something that we already know but do not fully understand, & proceeds by reasoning to formulate a plausible hypothesis that can explain what is observed, & then rigorously tests that hypothesis by precise & critical experiment. However, unlike all other Knowledge, this Knowledge does not study any object of knowledge, but instead studies the very power of

Knowing itself – the power of Consciousness that underlies the Mind, the power by which all objects are known.  Hence the Truth discovered by means of this Knowledge is not something that can be demonstrated or proved objectively by one person to another. It can, however, be directly experienced as a clear Knowledge in the innermost core of each person who scrupulously pursues the necessary process of experiment till the True Nature of Existence – which is the True Nature of Consciousness, & of Happiness – is revealed in the full clarity of pure unadulterated Self-Consciousness.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 76

4–Requisites: Discrimination viveka (continued)

Self-Inquiry reveals the sense–transcendent Self.  It is in this light that Discrimination is the understanding that Brahman (the vast Absolute) is Reality (satya) & the material World is false (mithya). This becomes experientially understood.

Though the Discrimination may commence with thinking, in actual practice, it does not remain as just thought.  The Self is not a thought; nor is it all the thoughts gathered together. To confound thought with the Self is Ignorance. No thought can be ever-existent, Limitless, utterly Formless, & Eternal. No thought is actually Consciousness, which is the Self.  Discrimination discerns the Self & thus reveals its freedom from thought. With Discrimination, one comprehends that Consciousness is the unaffected Witness of all thought & cannot be a thought.  By this discrimination, one is no longer bound by thought.  Profound Discrimination reveals the Existence of Consciousness alone & the fact that there is really no such existent thing as thought.

This process of Discernment, from the most basic to the finest Discrimination, actually uses something inherent in & natural to everyone.  Everyone knows if he is happy or not. Everyone knows that he exists. How is it that everyone has this intrinsic Discernment ? It is because Knowledge is of the very nature of the Self. The aspirant for Liberation can very well use this intrinsic ability to Discern, an ability that is interior & unfailing, for the purpose of Self-Inquiry to know the Self.

To commence Discrimination, one may start Meditation with what are seemingly simple questions, such as, “What is the source of Happiness ?  What is Eternal ?  What is Real? Who am I ?”  Though simple & basic, these questions remain extremely useful continually in the practice. The significance of these questions deepens in direct proportion to the depth of Discrimination.  Discrimination may very well manifest as a sorting process, with more emphasis usually on the negation of what is not Eternal, not Reality, or not the Self.  The result lies in the Eternal Reality of the Self being left un-obscured & Self-evident by virtue of this Discrimination.

The Discrimination should also be applied to one’s view of Realization in order to free such of Dualistic conceptions. Furthermore, the Discrimination must be applied to one’s own practices in order to sort out what is actually useful & what not useful in the effort to realize the Self.  Considering how short life is & how important it is to apply oneself fully, it is imperative to, again & again, clarify one’s comprehension of the Path so that effort is wisely applied & useful.

The distinguishing of what is helpful & what is a hindrance to spiritual development is a result of Discrimination. The spiritual Discernment of what action is beneficial & what is deleterious, the law of karma, as well as transcendence of karma, which can occur only in Knowledge & not physically or in bodily terms, are all a result of Discrimination.

The distinguishing of the causes of emotional moods & how to liberate oneself from them is also a result of Discrimination. The Discernment of mental tendencies & concepts & dis–identifying from them is a matter of Discrimination as well. The destruction of the Manifest Egoistic tendencies or mis–identifications & the Realization of the absence of the Ego altogether is of the nature of discrimination. All the aspects of liberating oneself from mis–identifications, or super–impositions of the non–Self upon the Self, & ascertaining what is true about the Self –  all depend upon the ability called, “spiritual Discrimination”.  The significance of this Discrimination viveka & the actual experience for those on the path of Knowledge are far-reaching.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 75

6–Requisites: Discrimination viveka

Discrimination refers to the ability to Discern what is true & what is not true. It may commence with deep thinking or contemplation, yet as it becomes clear & firm, it is a matter of actual inner experience. It may start with what is very basic, yet continues to be instrumental in the Knowledge until Realization itself.  Unless a person Discerns the Source of Happiness, there is not much of a possibility of finding that Happiness, let alone retaining that Happiness without subsequent loss.

Unless a person Discerns the purpose of Life, it will not be fulfilled. It is only for a person exercising keen Discrimination regarding what constitutes Realization that a corresponding clear way of realizing will become evident. Otherwise, the seeker will practice in a random fashion, practice will not correlate to unexamined ignorant tendencies.  Rather serving to destroy such delusive notions & patterns of conceptualizing, the practice will overlook the unexamined ignorant tendencies (vasanas).

It will not be possible for one to know oneself without releasing the mis–identifications that currently bind or obscure.  It will not be possible to thoroughly release such mis–identifications unless they are discerned as being mis–identifications rather than being assumed to be one’s actual nature, which instead is the Absolute Self ?

Discrimination enables one to know Reality as it is. Ignorance consists of taking the Real to be unreal & the unreal to be Real.  One must Discern which is Real & which is unreal in order to be free of Illusion Maya or Ignorance (avidya, ajnana) or Superimposition vivarta , or moha Delusion.

Freedom from Ignorance is true Knowledge, the non–conceptual Wisdom that sees Reality as it is. This Discrimination cannot be a sensory activity. As long as one assumes that the Senses determine what is real, so long one imagines a supposed external World to be existent & objects to be real.

The Senses display only tiny impressions – minute & momentary, no matter how varied, complex, or large they may appear to be – & not the ever–present Existence as it is. The Senses are incapable of determining the Real Nature of the Existence that is the Self.

One cannot expect to see the formless Self, to hear the silent Self, to touch the intangible Self, etc. Moreover, what is Real must always be Real, in order to be Real. If it is not always be Real, a thing is entirely unreal or a mis–perception of what is Real.

The transient Senses are incapable of perceiving the eternal Reality. The Self which one seeks to realize is the eternal Reality. Therefore, Self-Inquiry utilizing Discrimination to know the Self is not a sensory activity, does not depend on the Senses, & eliminates the belief in the validity or reality of the sensory “perceptions”.

The above themes & 2600 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 directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 74

Self-Inquiry (continued)

Self-Inquiry reveals the invalid nature of all personal definitions, the Formless nature of Reality, & that the Ego is nothing but a false assumption whose nature is non–existence. When all that is unreal, not the Self, is removed, the real Self alone remains in its own Knowledge of itself – Self-Knowledge, which is devoid of such differentiation as the Knower, the Knowing, & the Known.

Self-Inquiry is the essential practice. The success of any spiritual practice in yielding Freedom & Peace is directly proportionate to the relinquishment of mis-identification, the dissolution of the Ego or false notion of Individuality, that occurs in mis-identification. Self-Inquiry does not include any of the Duality that one is attempting to transcend.

Supports for Self-inquiry are actually more than supports; rather they are integral to the whole experience of inquiring to know the Self.  In Advaita Vedanta, they have been referred to as the “requisites” for Realization or the 4–fold–sadhana (practice) Sadhana Chatushtaya for Realization or Liberation. These were expounded in the clearest teachings of Non-Duality & Self-Knowledge, known as Advaita Vedanta, by Sri Shankara,  These practices relate to the attainment of Knowledge & the dissolution of the Illusion of ignorant Dualisty & its consequent Bondage & Suffering. Thus is realized the natural State of the Self, Brahman, which is pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

The 4–Requisites are: Discrimination viveka, Detachment vairagya, the 6–Essentials shatsampati, & Desire for Liberation mumukshutva.

The 6–Essentials are: Peacefulness sama, Self–Control dama, Renunciation / Non–Dependence uparati, Endurance / Fortitude titiksha, Faith / Conviction shraddha, & profound, concentrated, formless Meditation samadhana.

If Sadhana Chatushtaya’s 6–Essentials shatsmpati were represented as “dama etc.” then one mnemonic for the 4 Requisites could be the “4 D’s” namely: D – iscrimination, D – etachment, d – ama etc. D – esire.

Alternately, if the 6–Essentials “uparati etc” were represented as “uparati etc.” then one mnemonic for the Sanskrit term could be the “2 V’s & 2 U’s” [reversing the alphabetical order o the 3 letters] namely: V – iveka, V – airagya, u – parati. 3 u’s – in mUmUkshUtva.

As for 6–Essentials shatsmpati themselves, one mnemonic follows a specific choice for the various English equivalents, namely: sama E – quanimity, dama E – limination (of sense seeking), uparati  E – scape (from of sense attachment), titiksha E –  ndurance, shraddha E –  ka Grta one pointedness, samadhana E – ecstasy or samadhi.  Given these specific equivalents, the mnemonic for the 6–Essentials becomes the “6 E’s” (as in E for E – ssentials).

Each of the 4–Requisites requisites is helpful to the Self-Inquiry to know the Self.  Each of the 4–Requisites supports the others.  Though one requires Discrimination to become Detached (otherwise, one will not perceive who is to be detached & from what to be detached).  It may be the Desire for Liberation coupled with Conviction in the teachings that give rise to that Discrimination, which is further strengthened by Meditation & expressed through some kind of Renunciation on a basis of peacefulness or Equanimity. Each of the 4–Requisites may be considered separately, or they may be considered as one whole.  These requisites for Realization are to be understood, meditated upon, & practiced within the context of Non-Duality for the purpose of Self-Realization.

The 4–Requisites for Realization are taught with special relevance to Self-Inquiry, the introspective determination of the True Nature of one’s own Self, which is the

Absolute Self.  The significance of them & the actual experience of them for those on the path of Knowledge are far-reaching.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 73

Self-Inquiry  (Atma Vichara)

Supreme Knowledge, Self-Knowledge is regardong Knowledge about the True Nature of the Absolute Self & instruction regarding a path or spiritual practice for Self-Realization or Enlightenment.

In the Teaching of Non-Duality, which clearly reveals the identity of the Self & the Absolute (Brahman, God), Liberation or Self­Realization is recognized to be of the nature of Self-Knowledge. A path of Knowledge results in Self-Knowledge, & the primary method of the path is that of Self-Inquiry. The Inquiry is the introspection, or meditation, that ascertains, in the most experiential manner, of what one’s true Identity consists. It is the Self-Revelation of the nature of Existence, or Consciousness itself, unobscured by any definition or mis­identification.  Questioning inwardly as to “Who am I ?” one realizes one’s true state of Non-Dual Existence, which is ever free, ever at peace, unchanging, without modifications, illimitable, timeless, indivisible, forever unconditioned, formless, undifferentiated – the One Reality.

Self-Inquiry involves the relinquishment of the false superimposition of forms & attributes upon the Self.  This involves the recognition of the false definition & the Discernment of how it is not actually one’s identity. It is the shifting of Identity from where it has been misplaced, such as being associated with the Body or with thought, & restoring it to its natural position, which is the Self alone. It is the ceasing of the confusion regarding what is Real & what is unreal.  Erroneous attribution of Reality to the unreality, such as conceiving the World, objects, events, sensations, & thoughts to be real or to be the means of determining what is real, is relinquished

Summed up the in the concise phrase, “Who am I ?”, Self-Inquiry by the seeker of Self-Realization can also directly realize Liberation from the unreal bondage by inquiring, with each experience & notion, “For whom is this ?”  This approach negates the Identity or Reality from the objective aspect & returns it to that which is inward, the Subject.

Then, recognizing that whatever it is, it is for “me,” one should inquire, “Who am I ?” This is, with a keen awareness, the inner discerning of the True Nature of one’s Existence. The determination of the answer to Self-Inquiry cannot be in verbal, sensorial or conceptual terms, but is realized by the elimination of all definition, the dissolution of confusion regarding Reality, & the destruction of the Ego.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 72

Ego (continued)

What & where is the Ego ?   One should inquire into this deeply to realize the natural non-Ego state which is blissful & free from all Bondage & Suffering.  The Ego is merely a false notion – a bare assumption – of Individuality, of a separate “I”, which is the supposition of differentiation from the Absolute.

The Ego has no form of its own, & so to appear in any way, it creates an illusion of Form & attaches itself to such Illusion, such Form.  The Ego itself appears as the mis-identification with an attachment to the unreal forms of the Mind, the Senses, the Body, & the World.  Thus in the course of spiritual practice, when one destroys these mis-identifications & attachments, the Ego dissolves.

The “I” notion is the separate experiencer, the individual Knower, the embodied entity, the Doer of action, & the notion of an “other”.  The Ego itself is the concept of a separate Universe in which it the Ego – “I” supposedly exists.

Upon The ego is based the illusory differentiation of the World, the Individual, & the Supreme (jagad – jiva – Para).  The 3 are not 3, but rely but only that, the Non-Dual Self.  Only with the Ego does the 1 appear to be 3.  The Ego appears as it is conceived.

The World & thought are unreal, & so is the Ego.  One sees the Ego’s guises & its appearances.  Where is the Ego’s existence ?  One sees the Ego’s effects, but where is the cause of the Ego ?  If the Ego is real in any manner, it should be actually experienced.  If the Ego is an entity, it should exist somewhere.  If the Ego itself is in Effect, it should have a Cause.  One should inquire to determine if the Ego exists at all.  Is the Ego actually experienced ?  The Ego has neither shape nor size, & it has no physical attributes.  The Ego is never sensed, for one never sees, hears, touches, or has any other sensory impression of the Ego.  The Ego is not simply the word “I”, nor the particular thought of “I”.

Realized Sages who are fully identified with the true Self alone, may still say “I”, but they neither give rise to nor retain any Ego.  The Ego has no form of its own & is never seen by itself as it is.  Though the Ego is an assumption of a division in Existence, how can Existence be dual or be divided in itself ?

The Ego – “I”  is not a quality or attribute of the Self, since it is not invariably related to the Self.  It does not continue in Liberation nor in Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Since it does not so continue in must belong to something else, & not to the Self.

To what does the Ego belong?  If one inquires one will find that the Ego belongs to nothing.  The Ego cannot belong to what depends on it, & the attribute of the Self, being homogeneous & never changing, will never have an Ego at any time.

The Ego cannot be equated 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 directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 71

Ego

Self-Realization is the Ego–less State.  Freedom from the Ego is the essence of Liberation.  It is Abidance in the Self as the Self.  The falsely assumed Individual “I” is completely removed by Self-Knowledge, & the 1 true “I”, the “I” of the “I”, alone remains (comparable to the metaphoric Eye of the Eye).  The Self is defined by Ramana Maharshi. Ribhu, & other Sages as “I–I”.  That’s true “I–I” is the “I” in the statement “I am the Absolute” (aham Brahmasmi).

In the Realization of the significance of that mahavakya (great aphorism), of the Upanishad, “I am the Absolute Brahman“, Sri Shankara explains that the entire notion of “I” is removed.  This is just like the idea “a bandit is here” which is mis-conceived when perceiving a “tree stump in the darkness”.  The illusory “bandit” completely removed upon illumination being brought.  (The tree stump was formerly feared to be a bandit just as the Self is formerly feared to be an Ego).  Brahman alone is, & Brahman alone knows.  When the “I” is removed, all of the “mine” is also removed, as such is completely dependent upon the delusion of “I”.

The Ego is the root cause of Delusion, Illusion, Bondage, & Suffering.  The Ego is the root of the Mind, even the very idea of an existent Mind, & the root of all else.  It is the 1^st illusion to be imagined & the last to disappear.  The Ego is the cause, substance, & experiencer of all Illusion.  Without the Ego Illusion is impossible.

The Ego has no actual form of its own.  It may be conceived as the Experiencer, the Thinker, the Performer of action, the one who Senses, the one who lives, the one who has attributes, & such.  In essence, the Ego is the concept of “I” in whatever guise it may appear.

All Duality & Ignorance is from the Ego, by the Ego, & in the Ego.  The Universe is no separate existence, for the Self is all in all at all times & is unmixed, & transcendent of the form of all,.  But the Ego gives the deluded wrong view of “Duality”.

The Body is not one’s home, for the Self is Unborn & bodiless.  But the Ego gives the deluded view of the Self & the Body as knotted together.  Bliss is of the Eternal Self, but the Ego gives the deluded view that Happiness is not here, not immediate, & ever present as Existence itself, & must be elsewhere.  The Ego appears as the “knot” between the Self, of the nature of pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, & Form.

The Formless Self, Brahman alone is the ever solitary Reality, but the Ego gives the deluded view of existent form, of something other existing, of a 2^nd which it itself presumably is.  Yet when inquired into, to determine its nature, the Ego, with all that depends upon it, vanishes being unreal.

The Ego cannot be equated 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 directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Duplicate blogs available on:

jstiga.wordpress.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/

Reality 70

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.

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 hBrahmangood, 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 Brahman.  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.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 69

The Ego is ignorantly assumed to be the Self &, thus the Knower.  The conception of the Mind determines 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.

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 above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 68

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.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 67

On a path of Self-Knowledge, discrimination signifies the ability to discern what is true & also implies the ability to determine what is false or unreal.  By so discerning, or discriminating, one pursues Truth to realize it & destroys the Dream of Illusion or Ignorance.  Ignorance creates Suffering.  What destroys Ignorance reveals blissful Freedom, or Liberation.  Ignorance is destroyed when one discerns that it is, indeed, Ignorance & not the Truth.  Ignorance exists & is binding only if one conjures it up & believes it.  If, by discrimination, one discerns its un-reality, or false nature, Ignorance no longer binds & ceases to exist.

In the place of Ignorance then, there is found real Knowledge, which is Knowledge of the Reality itself.  Just as one, wishing to arrive somewhere, needs first to know where it is that he wishes to go & how to proceed to that place, so too one needs to recognize the place of arrival, which is the highest Truth. One likewise needs to recognize the means to so arrive, which is Knowledge, & also recognize the traveler, which is oneself, & that all these are in the same “place”, of the same essential nature, & are, indeed, the very same Supreme Being.

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.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 66

The basic premise of Non-Duality is that the Absolute exists & that the Absolute is identical with oneself.  Therefore, Self-Knowledge is equated with the Realization of the Absolute.  The basic premise of spiritual practice is that one knows that the Absolute exists & that realizing the Absolute is of utmost importance. This realization is Self-Realization. What is need for this Self-Knowledge, or Realization, is the relinquishment of the assumptions or concepts, that yield the Illusion of Bondage & Suffering.  Knowledge of one’s Being, as it is, yields enduring Freedom & Peace.  The true Self transcends the limitations of any kind of Individuality, Time, Birth, & Death. The Self is impersonal & is not confined to any Body or Individual.

One’s approach to one’s spirituality, meditation, & this Non-Dual Knowledge is of paramount importance, for the approach very much determines the experience. How one views anything determines how it appears to him.  Clarification of one’s understanding of oneself causes one to arrive at Self-Knowledge. To know this as being so, is itself the dawning of that Self-Knowledge.  Deep meditation dissolves the Ego, Ignorance, & Bondage of one who ardently meditates. Self-Inquiry within oneself to know oneself reveals the true Self to be limitless Consciousness, Absolute Being, & unconditioned Bliss.

This one’s very Existence.  One should continue meditating on the Teaching of Self-Knowledge by the practice of Self-Inquiry until one conclusively realizes the Self & abides without the least trace of Ignorance or Bondage. Listening (shravana), reflection (manana), & deep meditation (nididhyasana) are said to constitute ways of practicing Self-Knowledge.  Self-Inquiry: “Who am I ?”, knowing oneself free of mis-identification, & steady Abidance as the Self always, these are the inner experiences of listening (shravana), reflection (manana), & deep meditation (nididhyasana).

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 65

Consciousness is self-luminous. By the light of Consciousness, all appears.  When Consciousness disappears, Consciousness is still the same.  The known has no light of its own. Inquiring, one should trace the Light inward to realize that which is perpetually illuminating.  That ever-shining colorless Light illumines the Senses & the Mind, but can never be seen by the Senses, or envisioned by the Mind.

Knowledge, or direct experience of this Light consists of the Identity with that Light.  Changeless, blemishless, ever-free, immovable, eternal, bodiless & imperishable, without Ignorance or Knowledge, the Self is of the nature of Consciousness alone.

Existence, the Self, is the sole, ever-enduring, Non-Dual Reality.  The aspirant can know Absolute Being or Brahman, only if the aspirant is identical with Brahman. The aspirant cannot know That if That (Brahman) is different from the aspirant. The Self, being Non-Dual Consciousness, cannot know anything or anyone other than Consciousness.  The Self, being the sole-existent Consciousness, cannot be known by another.  The Self alone can know itself.

There would be no use for the countless descriptions of the Absolute by the Scriptures & the holy Sages if That, the Self, were other than one’s own Self. There would also be no use for the negation of all limited definitions if That, the Self, were other than one’s own Self.  For what purpose would be served by speaking of something that was never experienced by those Sages, those authors of the Scriptures, something could never be experienced by all ?

The negation of attributes & limited definitions of Brahman, as given un such spiritual instructions, must be understood to be the negation of attributes & limited definitions of the Self.  If the instructions are to be applied to oneself, those instructions involve the negation of superimpositions, of what is not the Self, upon the Self.

The descriptions of the Self & the negation of attributes & limited definitions of the Self would be meaningless if they referred to some sort of other “Self” different from the aspirant’s own self.  Such negations would further clarify that the Self is bodiless, non-sensory, without prana (“life force or energy”), free from thought, etc.

There are not 2 selves in the same one being (apparent person or human being).  There is 1 Self, & when known as it is, the Self is known to be Infinite & Eternal, not a limited individual being, but just Non-Dual Being.

To realize this, the Knowledge of oneself as the Self, free from the Body & such, this Knowledge must become as certain & steady as the belief of a human being that he is a human being. No human being doubts this on any occasion.

When that human being determines by Self-Knowledge what, in Truth, that Existence is, that Being exists, then Absolute Being is known. And if that Knowledge is 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 realized.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 64

The Self alone knows.  The which is objective, inclusive of the Ego, can have no knowing power.  For all that is objective is not Consciousness itself & is therefore unreal.  The objective & unreal cannot know themselves, cannot know each other, & cannot know the Knower.  The only Knower is the Self which the unknown Know of all that is known.  Though it cannot be known objectively, the Self is nonetheless known in Self-Knowledge devoid of the triads of knowing-knower-known, by the Self itself, which is the Self of the Sages who truly know.

The Self is the true Knower of Knowledge that is referred to in the Upanishad aphorism, tat tvam asi “Thou art That” & not anything else.  Anything else would be a mere superimposition on the real Self & would have no such Knowledge.  There is no other Knower. This is the all-comprehensive Knower, which is Absolute Consciousness itself, ever-free, homogenous, Non-Dual, & space-like.

This Knower is realized when the illusory objective aspect has been negated. The Knower can never be the known.  All that is known is subject to destruction, but the essence of the Knower can never not be.

For Realization of the immortal Bliss of eternal Being, one should know oneself as the Knower alone, which is unalloyed, boundless Consciousness. In knowing the Self truly, one knows that Consciousness is never non-existent & never alters its nature.  Consciousness is never an experiencer, never a thinker, never a sensory perceiver, never a performer of action, or an individualized knower since Consciousness is without an Ego.

Thus, one who knows himself truly, knows, “I am without a Body, & I am not engaged in bodily action. I am without Senses, & I am not engaged in any sensing. I do not have speech; & I do not speak. I do not have prana; & I neither live nor die. I do not have a Mind; & I never think. I am not an “I”, or an individual being & there is nothing I become.”

Such a Sage need not think that this is so.  It is so, & expression have merely been given to these truths to indicate that which actually ineffable & of the nature of silent Knowledge. Since the eternal Self is always of the nature of Consciousness, it is ever without Ignorance.  Similarly, the Self is without knowledge conceived as a state or mode of Mind.  The Self has no states or phases, & therefore, is beyond both Ignorance & Knowledge. The only true Knowledge is the Self, itself.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 63

In the Waking State, one experiences the Interior & the Exterior, what is sensed & what is thought.  In the Dream State, the situation is the same.  Both what is sensed & what is thought in both States are not the Self & are unreal. The contents of both what is sensed & what is thought in both Waking & Dream states should not be regarded as defining the Self.  When what is sensed & what is thought are falsely associated with the Self, this is superimposition.  No activity of the Exterior & the Interior yields Liberation. The activity of an unreal superimposition cannot yield eternal, real Liberation from that unreality.

Liberation is by Knowledge alone & Knowledge is neither sensory nor conceptual in nature. The Self that is realized by such Knowledge has neither Inner nor Outer, but is ever-existent, omnipresent, indivisible, & ineffable.

The true nature of the individual self is actually Brahman.  There is only one Self, whether imagined to be individualized, or else realized as it truly is.  If one inquires into this apparently individualized self, all that one finds is the Self, which is Brahman.  All that is thought to make oneself different from the Self can be relinquished by the Self-Inquiry that negates mis-identification, which is the questioning “Who am I ?”  For this reason the Upanshads instruct neti, neti “not this, not this”.

Immortal Liberation is freedom from destruction & fear.  The Individual seems as if subject to both destruction & fear. In truth, the Existence that seems to be an Individual is only Brahman.  Self-Inquiry negates all that is thought to make the Self differentiated into individuals.

One should meditate on being the Witness & not anything witnessed, whether the witnessed be a known Conception or a known Perception.  The entire personal orientation should be utterly abandoned. The Identity & the Reality should be known as the Witness. And all that is witnessed should be known as not the Self & as unreal.  The meditator should discriminate more & more finely between the Knower & the Known. Thereby mis-identification ceases. Thereby superimposition of the Known upon the Knower ceases.  When the Witness alone remains as one’s Identity, & as Reality, all that there is pure Consciousness which is real Being.  It is an “I”–less “I” with nothing else whatsoever.  Until the Self is realized firmly, one should discriminate between & cease to mis-identify, inquiring with as “Who am I ?”

Knowledge is “Abidance” (in & as the Self) free from any identification with the Body, the Mind, & the Ego.  Delusion is the mistaking of oneself for the Body, the Mind, & the Ego, all of which are objective.  Such Delusion veils the Blissful experience of the Self.  One cannot have simultaneously the ideas” “I am this, I am like this, or I do this or that” & at the same time have the Knowledge of being the Self.  There one ought to persist in Self-Inquiry so that one becomes free of such ideas.  This involves the cessation mis-identification with the Body & the Mind. Since Being is not the Body or the Mind, one never does anything. Similarly, Being is never “this” or “like this”, but is only Being.

Ignorance makes one believe that the Mind, which is illumined by Consciousness, is the Self.  The Mind’s apparent power of knowing is only the “reflected light” of Consciousness.  This is like seeing sunlight play upon a shiny object & thinking that the light seen actually originates from the illumined object.  Mistaking the Mind for the Self is like mistaking the reflection in a mirror to actually be one’s actual face.  Mistaking the Body for the Self is taking a corpse to be alive & holding it dear, & this is the cause of Suffering. Mistaking the Ego to be the Self is like believing, as fact, the mythological story or someone who was never born.  Mis-identification is the cause of confusion. Self-Knowledge is “Self-Abidance” with no false identification with the Ego, Mind, & Body.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 62

All the efforts involving mis-identification within the Mind & all the superimposition of experience upon the Self produce only Illusion & not anything real.  The Illusion is that of limitation by Form; the Illusion of being a Body, or at a location; the Illusion of perishability; the Illusion of the belief that something destructive of Bliss can exist; the Illusion of differentiation or division into parts, & of connection with actions & their results. The Self is actually all–pervading & space-like, imperishable. The Self is the eternal Bliss itself, Siva, un-differentiated & un-divided, partless, actionless, & free of all  karma.

The infinite Self is only one, & nothing other than the Self can belong to the Self.  Therefore the Mind cannot belong to the Self. The Self is ever unattached & cannot belong to anything else.  Therefore the Self is unaffected by anything done by the Mind.  When attachment is present, even as the notion of possession, the possessor, as it were is possessed by the possession.  Since the Self is unattached to all, including the Mind, the Self is possessed by none & is not affected by any.  If one becomes detached from all things & to one’s own thoughts in the Mind, he finds that what he has reached was the real Self all along.  Since there cannot exist a Mind that is something other than the Self which is Infinite & Non-Dual, the Mind cannot have, in Reality, any activity or its results.

Freedom from the Mind is freedom from the fear of loss of Happiness & from the fear of ceasing to exist. This Freedom from desires & the grief of concomitant with desires.  Thus, one who knows the Self, free from the Mind, is truly happy. & is solely That which is the same in all beings.

All beings are, by nature, pure Consciousness. Apparent difference from this Consciousness is only illusory appearance due to Ignorance.  The illusory difference is removed by comprehending the Knowledge that one is solely Being.  Such Knowledge alone is the means to realize immortality, for Being never ceases to be.  Nothing else can yield this Realization, for Consciousness is identical with Being.  Knowledge is of the nature of Consciousness itself, & there really exists nothing but Being, which is Knowledge or Consciousness.

In relation to all, the Self is the Witness, & being such is attributeless.  The Witness is That which never changes, but which knows all the changes –  thoughts, modes, & states – of all Minds.  The Witness knows all the functions of the Mind in Waking & Dream.  In the absence of the Mind’s functions, that is without those 2 states of Waking & Dream, what remains of the Witness is pure Consciousness, which is omnipresent & immutable.  This the Self, the true “I” which is free from Ignorance & has no attributeness, no functions, & no qualities, & which is transcendent of all 3 States (waking, dream, deep dreamless sleep).  Space-like & never tainted by any of the defects or limitations of the beings that Consciousness indwells, Consciousness alone is the Self.

The Self is free from all notions, forms, & actions.  The Self is always 1 – without – a –  2^nd.  Adi Shankara proclaims that, as long as there is no Self-Knowledge, the identification with the Body & such, & the belief in the authenticity of Sense-Perceptions continue, just as Dreams appear to be true as long as one does not wake up.  To spiritually wake up, one must know the Self truly.  The Reality of the Self is pure Consciousness with no Duality & with nothing else existing whatsoever.  One cannot have simultaneously the Knowledge of the Self along with the idea of oneself as the performer of activity, or an experiencer.  For steady unalloyed Knowledge, one should cease such mis-identification.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 61

The Mind & its modifications, in the form of thoughts, modes, & states, are limited.  The Self, unlike any of the Minds, is not of limited knowledge, for Supreme Knowledge is the Self’s true nature.  That  Supreme Knowledge is unmodified Consciousness itself, which is the Self itself.  The Self has no Ignorance, just as light has no darkness.  The Self is also without change, without impurity, ever beyond conception, forever beyond the Senses, & never of a material nature.

The Self is, by analogy, said by the Wise, to be like sunlight, while the Mind is like a crystal. And the various Experiences are like the colors seen in the crystal. The significance of this analogy is that all objects are seen in the Mind only by the light of the Self.  Objects of knowledge, sensed or mental, appear only in the Waking & Dream states. When these Waking & Dream states are not present, no such sensed or mental objects are experienced. Yet the Knower (the Self) is always the Knower, never ceasing, unlike all that is unreal. For the Knower is formless Consciousness. Duality appears only in those Waking & Dream states & is thus likewise unreal. For what is Real must be Real always. By relinquishing the superimposition of the known on the Knower, one then abides as the Non-Dual Knower, unceasing Consciousness, always.

Prior to the discrimination of the Self & the non-Self, one may think that the Absolute does not exist. One may doubt that the Self alone exists. After such discriminating Self-Inquiry, what was thought of as an Individual self is known to be only Brahman. There is no Individual self, or Mind, which would have done such thinking. Upon such Self-Inquiry, the experiential Knowledge is that only the Self. Brahman is, & the Individual & Mind are only Brahman & nothing else.

For the Self, which is of the nature of pure Consciousness, the connection to any objective experience, mental or sensed, is a product of delusion.  The “I” is truly free of all attributes, & is not associated with any quality or entity, & is ever non–objective.  The Ignorance that imagines otherwise is purposeless.  That Ignorance merely creates Bondage among the ever-free, Suffering in the midst of Bliss. This is like drowning in a mirage whose “waters” serve no purpose. If the delusive attempts, to connect the Self with what is not the Self, are given up, the Mind rests in Brahman, the Absolute Self, “as if free from Bondage”, say the Sages.  In Reality, that Self was never bound.  The Self is ever Unborn & ever free of Duality.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 60

All the objects of knowledge change. All these are described as “mine” & Ego, also cannot illumine themselves, nor can they illumine each other.  The Self is different from all that are described as “mine” & Ego. The Self is the unchanging, illuminating Consciousness.  This Consciousness is truly one’s only Identity.  Therefore, there can never truly be Bondage.

One Non-Dual Self alone is.  The one Non-Dual Self is the undivided Consciousness. This is the only Knower in all.  There are not different kinds of Knowers, such as higher & lower knowers. The Minds of all are pervaded by the one Consciousness within, which is the Self.  This is the “I” of all.  So there is no one else who knows, or who does not know.  The “I” is truly the Absolute, Brahman, all-knowing & all-pervading.

This “I” pervades & illumines the Mind. And the Mind pervades & illumines all things ever experienced.  Thus this “I” is the illuminator & pervader of all. This Self is the Witness of all objects of the Mind. These mental objects are subtle thoughts & also all the objects conceived as external as well. This includes being the Witness of all other Minds conceived as existing within the Mind.  Thus the Self is the Witness of all.

The Mind cannot conceive the Self, yet the Mind has no existence apart from the Self. The Self can neither be accepted nor rejected by any of the Minds. That which cannot be accepted or rejected by the Mind is Brahman. That is truly the “I”.  Brahman & the Self are One.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 59

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

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

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

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

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

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

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 58

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com 

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Duplicate blogs available on:

“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/

Reality 56

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.

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

The above themes & 2000 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 56

The Self is just Being, pure Existence. It is not being this or that. It is just Being, pure Existence. Self-Realization is just Being. It is not being this or that. It is just Being. Being, pure Existence knows no alternative. The Self is just Being, pure Existence.

Being, pure Existence never changes its nature. 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, pure Existence. Being never changes its nature.

The Self ever is just as it is. There is no time when Being, pure Existence is altered. There is no time when you are not the Self. Primordial Being eternally is, is what you are even now. Immutable Being is Peace itself. For there is no time when Being is altered. Just as it is, the Self ever is.

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, attributeless Being, ever itself just as it is. The only Identity, the only Reality, Being alone knows itself .

Without any other is Absolute Being, formless & Non-Dual, the only Existence. Two that are Formless cannot be. Undivided, homogeneous, alone is Being. nothing outside it & no outside; nothing within it; alone is Being, pure Existence. Nothing comes before eternal Being; nothing comes after eternal Being. Without any other is Absolute Being, pure Existence.

The Truth of Being is solely Reality. Not from illusory things falsely experienced does the sense of Reality in every experience derive, but only from the Self, the only source, the Real. Real Being depends not on anything else to be. Uncaused itself, the Absolute Self does not cause anything else. Infinite, there is nothing beyond it produced by it. Mistake not perception or conception for Existence itself. Reality is solely the Truth of Being.

The above themes & 2000 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 54

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-with/out-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.

In the book, Who am I ?, Ramana 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.

The above themes & 2000 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 53

For Self-Realization it is necessary to know the Self as transcendent of bodily form & limitation. By liberating oneself from the ignorant mis-identification with the body & its attributes, one abides as the Infinite & the Eternal.

Those who understand that they seek a Realization that is not a bodily state, & who are neither enamored of nor ashamed of the Body, seek to discern the Self’ s fieedom fiom the Body & its attributes. That is, one should know the Self’ s transcendence of all bodily definition. The results of this knowledge of the Self’ s freedom from the limitations of the Body & its attributes are Bliss & Peace that are undisturbed by bodily conditions.  There results spiritual freedom from birth, growth, decay, illness, & death, as well as transcendence of action.

Intent on the Supreme Knowledge, remain detached from the Body, its attributes, & its activities. Utilize the bodily form, while it is alive, as an instrument for selfless activity inspired by Wisdom, by the desire for Liberation, & by the immensity of Grace.

Act with corresponding equanimity, purpose, & devotion. The bodily activities are used as an instrument that expresses the divine. By contemplation on its wondrous working, the Body may be viewed (using scientific insight to self-inspire) as a reminder of Supreme Consciousness by which it appears, as the entire Universe appears. The emphasis is placed, not on the reminder (the Body, the Universe) but on that (Consciousness) of which one is reminded.

Be unmoved by Pleasure & Pain, motion & inactivity, Birth & Death. For invariable Bliss, one must know one’s fieedom from the Body & all bodily attributes. Knowledge is Realization. It is neither something done nor is it any bodily transformation. Rather, it is the comprehension of What is true.

The Self is Formless, Birthless, Deathless, & unchanging. The Self is Eternal & Infinite Existence-Consciousness-Happiness. Realization of this Truth results from liberating the Self by the essential Discrimination inherent in Self-Inquiry, liberating from the illusory Bondage of Ignorance. That Ignorance is composed of the delusive assumption that the Self is something other than the true Existence that it is. It is possible to realize this true Being only if one is thoroughly free of the Ignorance that consists of Mis-identification with the Body. For a Body has Form, Birth, Death, change, & does not last forever & is not Infinite. As long as there is any Mis-identification with the Body, the Real Nature of the Self will not be known. Or else, the Self will be misconceived in terms of the limitations of the Body. “Then misconception is relinquished by a deep Inquiry into one’s actual Existence, the nature of the Self is self-evident.

The Self is changeless Existence. The Body changes continuously, even if this change is noticed only after some time. Existence cannot be equated with the Body. The Self is birthless. There is no time when it is not. There is no experience, no knowledge, & no memory of non-existence or of the commencement of Existence (such as one ’s actual memory of Birth). The Body has a Birth, so Existence is not equated with the Body.  The Self is changeless. There is no increase or decrease in Existence. The Body has growth & decay, so Existence is not equated with the Body. The Self is deathless. There is no time when Existence is not, & non-existence cannot even be imagined without oneself existing to imagine so. The Body is transient & is subject to Death, so Existence cannot be equated with the Body.

The Self is partless, indivisible, homogenous, pure Existence. This Existence is beyond its name. The Body is a multiplicity of elements & organs, a conglomerate of cells, apart from which there is no entity that can be referred to as a “body”. The Body is matter.

The Self is immaterial, so Existence cannot be equated with the Body.  The Body is composed of matter, the very same matter that is contained in the food that the Body consumes. Why should one regard that Body as one’s self ?

[Never mind what you think of the Body-making-food when your Body is done with it.]     :—)

The above themes & 2000 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 51-52

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 meditation. 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 time 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 & is fulfilled by realizing the deepest, which is the eternal Existence of the Self.  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 misidentification.  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, misidentifications, or superimpositions are destroyed. By the destruction of misidentifications, or superimpositions, Truth is revealed within.

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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 50

In Self-Realization, all notions about the Absolute & the Self are relinquished.  Notions about the  Absolute are such as that it is separate from oneself, or objective, & that it is always-present.  Notions about the Self are such as that it is endowed with Form, minuteness, that it is changeful, material, embodied, defined by thought, in Time, or endowed with Individuality.  For Knowledge, the superimposition of the jiva-hood (concept of Individuality) is removed from Atman (the Self) & Isvara-hood (idea of the Lord God) is removed from Brahman (the Absolute).  Upon removal of such superimposition, or Ignorance, one realizes the Identity, as declared in the Upanishad, Tat tvam asi (Thou art That).  If the Self remains undefined, it is only Brahman, & That alone.  Therefore, one should know the Self.

The Knowledge of Reality, which is the Realization of the Self & the Realization of the Absolute, is attained by the direct path of true Knowledge.  By liberating oneself from the mis-identification with what is not the Self, one knows the Self.  When the Real Nature of what has been considered as the non-Self is seen, it invariably proves to be non-existent, for such non-Self was dependent upon mis-identification in order to even ever appear.

Blissful & Eternal is the Real Self. One should regard only that which has no beginning or end, is ever existent, is unchanging, is transcendent of all that has Form, of all that changes, & all that is in Time. The Self is also continuous & undivided as Real & one’s own true Being.  By this Knowledge, one abides in the Natural State, which is the only True State of the Self The Self may be said to call unto itself, as the Sought & as the Seeker; as the Guru & as the disciple; as God & as the devotee. The Self seeks itself in meditation. The Self reveals itself as inner experience. The Self knows & abides in itself for blissful Eternity.

In Self-Realization, all notions about the Absolute & the Self are relinquished.  Notions about the  Absolute are such as that it is separate from oneself, or objective, & that it is always-present.  Notions about the Self are such as that it is endowed with Form, minuteness, that it is changeful, material, embodied, defined by thought, in Time, or endowed with Individuality.  For Knowledge, the superimposition of the jiva-hood (concept of Individuality) is removed from Atman (the Self) & Isvara-hood (idea of the Lord God) is removed from Brahman (the Absolute).  Upon removal of such superimposition, or Ignorance, one realizes the Identity, as declared in the Upanishad, Tat tvam asi (Thou art That).  If the Self remains undefined, it is only Brahman, & That alone.  Therefore, one should know the Self.

The Knowledge of Reality, which is the Realization of the Self & the Realization of the Absolute, is attained by the direct path of true Knowledge.  By liberating oneself from the mis-identification with what is not the Self, one knows the Self.  When the Real Nature of what has been considered as the non-Self is seen, it invariably proves to be non-existent, for such non-Self was dependent upon misidentification in order to even ever appear.

Blissful & Eternal is the Real Self. One should regard only that which has no beginning or end, is ever existent, is unchanging, is transcendent of all that has Form, of all that changes, & all that is in Time. The Self is also continuous & undivided as Real & one’s own true Being.  By this Knowledge, one abides in the Natural State, which is the only True State of the Self The Self may be said to call unto itself, as the Sought & as the Seeker; as the Guru & as the disciple; as God & as the devotee. The Self seeks itself in meditation. The Self reveals itself as inner experience. The Self knows & abides in itself

for blissful Eternity.

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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 44 – 49

Regarding the great aphorism, “Thou art That (Tatvamasi)” wise Sages declare that the primary meaning of That is the Absolute, Brahman, & the primary meaning of Thou is the Knower, or “I”.  The essential meaning of That is the true Self.  The essential meaning of Thou is only pure Being, pure Consciousness.  The meaning of both is thus the same, & this is what “Art” expresses.  “Art” is an expression of complete Identity.  “Art” is realized by the relinquishment of other ideas regarding That &, most importantly, by Self-Inquiry into Thou. The deeper the inquiry into Thou, the more That is known as it is, for Thou Art That.  No repetition of the idea, “I am That” “l am the Self,” or “I am Brahman” is intended, for such implies difference between the instructed & the instruction, between the meditator, the meditation, & the meditated upon, between the one desiring Liberation & the Liberation itself, between the self who would know & that Self to be known, & between the realizer & the realized.  The Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the Absolute Self, Brahman, is to be practiced by Self-Inquiry, full of clear Discrimination, that frees one of the false notion of Doer–ship, of being a sensing entity, of being an experiencer, of being a thinker, & such, & that Self-Inquiry discerns fully that the one Self is not the Body, Mind, or Ego, or anything connected with these.  Then, one knows one’s own true Self to truly be Brahman.

The Knowledge of the Self becomes possible only when the Ego vanishes.  What remains is the Self-evident, the Self-Knowable, the eternally existing, the forever liberated that has never been bound. The Freedom & Happiness of this Realization have no cause or reason.  They are self-existing, as Being itself is.  Only unhappiness & Bondage seem to have reasons, which, with Self-Inquiry, are found to be merely Ignorance.

When the Knowledge that one is the Self, Brahman, is not veiled by the false notions that Reality is something other than the Non-Dual Self, that oneself is other than the Formless, motionless, immutable Self, that Happiness is other than the blissful Self, when not so veiled, the Knowledge is firm.  Then, the mis-identification of the Self with the Body or any other form becomes impossible.

The direct path of Knowledge is that in which one discriminates as described here, renounces the actions of the Body & Mind, frees himself from the ideas of being a Performer, experiencer, thinker, ete., abides free of outer sensing & inner conceiving activities, & thus knows the Self to be That. The practice of the Teaching of  “Thou art That” is the Self-Inquiry: “Who am I ?”  When the Knowledge of the Self which is the Absolute, is not contradicted by the false notions that one lacks Bliss & has desires, that one is not Consciousness & does [is the Performer of Action], & that one is not Being but is a bound entity, without such contradictions, the Knowledge is firm.

Though the Body is not the Self, the Self is not the Performer of Action, & Action is unrelated to Self-Knowledge & can in no way bring about the Liberation that this Knowledge alone yields, the holy sage who thus knows will always be manifesting what is True, Good, & Beautiful [“acting” as if in contradiction, but always rightly, if the real of appearance]. With Love for all beings, knowing all to be himself, endowed with equanimity & imperturbable peace, with no self-interest, he is ever engaged in the highest good, whether he appears active or still. His honesty derives from Truth itself, his Love from the indivisible Nature of Being, his Peace from the immovable Absolute, & his kindness & care from the perfect Fullness.  How would it be possible for one who knows about Liberation & the Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the divine Absolute Self to engage in conduct that would be otherwise ?

Nonetheless, it is never possible to determine the state of a realized Sage from the outer appearances of the body with which he has no identity whatsoever.  The Sage has gone beyond the Illusions of Life & death, never to return to that which never really was.  He [or she] is serene in & as the Absolute, & abides as the Eternal.  Whatever is done, he does nothing.  Whatever is said, he remains Silent. Whatever is thought, he remains unmodified.  For he has known himself, & he himself is what he knows.  You Are That.  Realize the Truth of this by Self-Inquiry.

Supreme Knowledge, Consciousness, is Brahman [prajnanam brahma].  Attain Liberation by Knowledge & realize that true Knowledge is the Eternal, Supreme Consciousness itself. This Self is Brahman [ayam atma brahma].  Inquire “Who am I ?” & realize pure Being as the One–without–a–2^nd [advaita].  I am Brahman. Abide in the natural state of the real Self, in the state of Identity with no other “I”.

Abide as That, which, when known, leaves no other thing to be known.  Abide as That, the Happiness of which leaves nothing else to be desired.  Abide as That, which, when realized, leaves no other Reality but itself.  Abide as that which is the Self which alone exists Eternally, for it is That which alone is.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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

Reality 43

Difference, & change belong to the Senses & the Mind. The Self is undivided & without modifications.  Whatever is subject to change is limited.  The Self is limitless.  Knowledge through the Senses & the Mind changes & ceases.  Real Knowledge of the Self is ceaseless & never other than Being itself.  This Knowledge is as limitless & invariable as Being itself.  Just as all other thoughts are merely objective Perceptions, so is the Ego, which is not the Self & not a possession or attribute of the Self.  One should discriminate what is the Body, the Senses, the Mind, or “I” notion, or the aggregate of such, & inquire, “Who am I ?”.

One should give up the Identity that appears in the Waking State of Mind & also the belief of reality in the Waking State itself.  Likewise, one should not identify with what is of the Dream State, in which the Mind functions in a similar objective fashion.  One must know himself as beyond that which is of Deep Sleep, which is a state of Causal Merger.  The Self is the Witness of all states, is pure Consciousness, & is not an object of knowledge.  It is the unknown knower.  Though Consciousness cannot be known as an object, it, being formless & without duality, Consciousness can never be made distant from oneself.  Therefore, the Self, of the nature of Consciousness, is always known as one’s Own Nature. Consciousness is self-effulgent & does not require any other knowledge to know itself other than that which is its Own Nature, just as a light does not need another light in order to be seen, but is seen because of its own light.

The Self is the only knower, & nothing else is so.  It never comes into existence, for it eternally exists, & is without cause & effect.  The Self & Self-Knowledge are not effects of anything.  Just as the manifested & the un-manifested are 2 states superimposed upon the Self so, too, are Bondage & Liberation.  As there is no day or night for the Sun itself so there is neither Knowledge nor Ignorance for the Self.  Realizing the Self as having no connection with anything ever, one is himself the Truth of the Unborn, the Truth of No-creation, & is never born again & is never in Illusion again.

If one is immersed in Samsara, the repetitive cycle of Illusion, Births & Deaths, filled with Suffering, then the way to liberate himself is by Knowledge. Liberation, which is the goal of spiritual practice, is one’s own if, inquiring to know the Self, he discards all notions of “me” & “mine,” attains complete certitude in the Space-like nature of Reality, & abides devoid of physical & mental forms & the assumption of an Ego-entity.

If the Self would change states, such as states of Ignorance & Knowledge, of Bondage & Liberation, it would be destructible, & Liberation, itself, would be artificial or unreal.  Liberation is not a change of state from one into another.  It is  not reasonable to imagine a separation & union in relation to the Self, for both would be transitory.  The transient cannot be attributed to the Eternal, just as the unreal cannot be attributed to the Real, or the dual to the Non-Dual.  As there truly can be neither union nor separation, Liberation cannot consist of the Individual entering into Brahman or Brahman coming to the Individual.

The True Nature of the Self is never destroyed, is changeless, is uncaused, & cannot be obtained or lost.   The new appearance or coming into being of any state would be the effect of a precedent cause &, thus, changeful, transitory, & not self-existent; such cannot be permanent Liberation.  Self-Knowledge alone is Liberation. Knowing the Self to be oneself is the greatest attainment.  To wrongly assume the non-Self to be the Self is ignorance.  The removal of the superimposed mis-conceptions, of what the Self is alone, constitutes the path to Liberation.  No other view is reasonable, as such always involves some dualism, some belief in an existent Individual experiencer & a self-existent objective thing, & the conception that the Reality becomes other than what it is & the unreal actually comes to be.

Liberation cannot be a change of condition, because such involves mutability & thus destructibility, parts or divisions, & a change in nature.  Any belief that superimposition occurs on non-existence, that Illusion can actually create itself or that there is no Absolute Self should be abandoned because the existence of Being, itself, is irrefutable, & it is not reasonable that something could come from nothing. Superimposition occurs on some real thing, & there is the one who knows this Ignorance.   This is Ignorance of what, & for who is it ?  If one so inquires, one finds that Being is, Consciousness is.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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 a very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

Reality 41

Mind (continued)

The 3 states [Waking, Dream, Deep Dreamless Sleep] are not consistently present.  The 3 States are passing appearances.  There are no aspects or phases of homogeneous Consciousness, which is partless.  As it is Existence–Consciousness, the self passes unaffected through the 3 States, unmoved by the presence or absence of thoughts in any of their permutations.  Yet how can the Self being Infinite, pass through anything else ?  The 3 States revolve in the Self, not the Self in them.  Yet how can there be anything but the Self & that undifferentiated Self ?  The Self is Infinite, detached, unaffected, the Reality devoid of mis-perception & non-perception, with no Cause & having no Effect.  In final Truth, there are no 3 states, & no Mind, & the Self is neither a Cause nor an Experiencer.

Though each thought may be regarded as affecting only other thoughts, for the Self is on as ever the unaffected Silent Witness of all of them, each thought actually has nothing that connects it to another thought.  All thoughts a supported by Consciousness alone.

Thought has no knowing power.  A thought cannot know itself, nor can it know another thought.  No thought is self–existent.  Each thought depends completely on Consciousness & is never known or experienced apart from Consciousness.  It appears & disappears in Consciousness alone.  So thought is just Consciousness, viewed as such.  Thought is said to be a “mode” (vritti), a modification, or form of Consciousness.  Consciousness itself is ever is forever Formless, unmodified, & has no modes, for it is changeless & Eternal.  How can there be a Form of the Formless, or modification of the changeless ?  Or how can there be a mode for the Birthless & Eternal ?  There thought has no real Existence.  Thought is like a snake imagined in a rope, or water of a Mirage.

Thought, both as particular thoughts & as thinking itself, is not an attribute of Consciousness.  A true attribute would need to be with that to which it is attributed always.  Consciousness is not by nature a thought, nor does it have thoughts always.  Therefore, thought is not an attribute of the attributeless Consciousness.

The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 40

Mind (continued)

In the State of Deep, Dreamless Sleep there is an absence of Waking & Dreaming thoughts & its content is, therefore, no World, no Body, no Senses, no ideas, no memories, & no “person” existing in the Deep, Dreamless Sleep State.

Yet Existence–Consciousness still exists, & that Existence–Consciousness is the Self.  The Self exists even in the absence of thoughts in Deep Dreamless Sleep, & is unaffected by the absence of all else is when all else appears in the other 2 States.

Deep, Dreamless Sleep is characterized by the presence of the Cause of the absence of thoughts in Deep Dreamless Sleep, & is unaffected by the absence of all else is when all else appears in the other 2 States.

Deep Dreamless Sleep is characterized by the presence of the Cause of the absence of the Effect.  Therefore, it may be said that the un-manifests seeds of, or potential for Ignorance is present but not the effects of such Ignorance.  In Deep Dreamless Sleep there is only the non-– Perception of Reality while the projection or hallucination of multiplicity & form is not there in Deep Dreamless Sleep. The Self, Existence–Consciousness, is free from both Cause & Effect. In Self-Knowledge neither the Veiling of Reality nor the Illusion of Multiplicity, neither the non-perception of real Existence nor the mis-perception of Existence is present.  The Self is Itself & knows Itself as it is.

Existence–Consciousness comes from Deep Dreamless Sleep. From Deep Dreamless Sleep comes Dream, from Dream comes Waking.  Each succeeding State occurs in the preceding one, (as in Shankara’s Coin Analogy).  All occurs within Existence–Consciousness, & that is what one truly is. So it is better to say that the States, & the Worlds in the States, appear or in oneself rather than that one is in those States.

Being beyond the States, the Self is called “the 4^th” (Turiya), yet it is only One & it is the in its own State forever.  The 3 states are seen as 3 only so long as Consciousness is not known as it is.  As Dream is to Deep Dreamless Sleep, emerging from within it, “forming it” yet not really so, for it is within the Formless, so too the Waking State is to Dream, a “the 4^th” (Turiya) which is actually Pure Consciousness (Turiyatita – beyond the 4^th).

Turiya, or the Transcendent State, is just Pure Consciousness, which being beyond the 3 States, is beyond the notion of a “4^th State”.  So it is also called Turiyatita which is actually Pure Consciousness (beyond the 4^th).  It remains is the One Existence which is in, & which itself is, its Natural, Innate State –  ever.

The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 39

Mind (continued)

All is thought, inclusive of the large & the small, now & then, this & that, you & he, he & she, here & there, Past, Present, & Future, all things, all actions, all occurrences, Life-&-Death, & all that is considered the Universe – Individual – God.  The Self transcends all this because it is free from thought.

Thoughts move in modes.  Innumerable thoughts & modes are contained in 3 States of Mind [Waking, Dream, Deep Dreamless Sleep].  In the first 2 [Waking, Dream], thought projects itself into itself, & the content of thought changes according to those States. The Waking State is equal to the Dream State.  In both, the same Multiplicity manifests.  In both, Subject & Object appear.  The same kinds of mental function appear in both States.  In both, the same tendency to identify as a particular character with a particular body exists.  Cause & Effect are present in both States.  Both are characterized by the non-perception of Reality & a mis–perception of Reality, which are equivalent to not seeing a rope & imagining it to be a snake.

These 2 states, Waking & Dreaming, are mutually contradictory.  Everything experienced in a given State changes within the State itself or changes with the changing of the State to another State.  Only Existence–Consciousness remains the same, unaffected by the changes in such experiences such as a change of State.  So what is present in the Waking State may be absent in the Dream State, & what is present in a Dream is absent in Waking.  What appears within the State is that State of Mind itself.  The Dreaming State of Mind itself appears as all that is experienced in the Dream.  So too is it with the Waking State experiences.  The State of Mind itself comprises all that appears within that State.

The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 38

Mind (continued)

Comparing & contrasting the Self & the Mind (a continued partial Checklist):

(1) Locationa) The Self is not located in a Body. The Self is not located in relation to a Body. That is

b) If the Self would be located throughout the Body or in a bodily spot, such a location

All that appears is only thought, the world, the body, senses, subtle experience, and of course thinking itself.  All are known in thought only.  Thought itself is experienced as if all these things.  All are only thought.  Thoughts join only to other thoughts and affect only other thoughts, if they can even contact other thoughts at all.  When one thought has passed it does not exist anywhere, so how can the next thought contact it.  The 2 thoughts in question occur momentarily, but at different times.

Thought appears as ideas, & thought itself appears as the things that concern those ideas.  Thought cannot join with the Self & cannot affect the Self.  Therefore, thought cannot bind one.  Thoughts affect only thoughts, if even those at all.

The preceding thoughts generally determine the succeeding thoughts.  The apparent interaction of things upon thought and thoughts upon things is entirely itself a play of thought which is merely thoughts affecting other thoughts the same can be said for the interaction of one thought upon an another thought momentarily existing at a different time.

Thought itself projects itself into itself.  There is no quote in or quote out, because such are only mere notions.  It is just like the appearance of a Dream thinker in a Dream.  There appear to be his perceptions of the objects & his interior thoughts, be they conceptions, associations, emotions, memories, etc. The whole of the Dream, “inner” & “outer”, is actually just composed of thought appearing in various ways.  As there are truly no internal & external aspects in a Dream, though in the Dream such appear, so it is with thought now in the Waking state in which all these words are being considered.

Even the largest thought occupies no Space, and the longest one endures for no time.  Therefore, all that is conceived is Maya, just as one thinks, envisions, dreams, & such with no respect to physical things, such as one thinking of a large mountain or dreaming of being in another place, without one’s head “enlarging” or one’s Body traveling to those places, or those things being altered in any way in actuality.

The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 37

Mind (continued)

Thought can never conceive of the Self.  The Self is never an object of thought.  Thought always has an objective element in it.  The Self is ever non-objective.  There is no such thing as a non-objective thought, at since thought itself is always known & it is always the thought of something, be it gross or subtle.  The Self is never an object & can never be the known.  The Self is always Consciousness itself.  Therefore the Self is ever of the nature that is transcendent of thought.  The Self is not known itself is not known by thought, which means it is ever undefined by thought, & cannot be bound by thought, no matter what the thought is.

What is called the “Mind” is only the combination of thought & Consciousness.  That combination is an Illusion.  It is the Illusion of combining the ever Formless Self with the form of thought.

Consciousness is the Self & cannot truly be combined with thought, since the Self is Formless & will not change its Nature.  The Self is Infinite, & will not be added to, & the Self is Real Existence that cannot be combined with false appearances any more than a rope can be combined with the imagined snake, or the sand with the water of a Mirage.

What is casually termed “Mind” is only a collection, or movement, of thought.  The Mind does not exist as such, & the Mind is not an independent entity.  If thought is absent, there can not be said to be a Mind present.  Thought itself is inert.  When knowing Consciousness is confounded with thought, there arises the notion of a separate knowing entity called the “Mind”.  Consciousness is the knowing aspect & is not a thought.  No thought is Consciousness itself.  Consciousness is the Self, & thus the Self is free from thought & free of the Mind.

The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Duplicate blogs available on:

“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/

Reality 36

Mind (continued)

Self-Knowledge is not merely a “blank mind” in which thought activity is temporarily stilled.  For Self-Realization one should know the Self’s freedom from thought & the true nature of the Mind.  Inquiring, “For whom is this thought ?” & “For whom is this Mind ?”,  One should seek the knowledge of the Self, beyond all mental modes & States of Mind [Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep].

Inquiring “Who am I ?”, one should know that true Existence, interior to any thought, more formless than any thought, transcendent of all thought, & ever free from all thought.

Checklist points demonstrating that the Self never connects with, never really relates to the Mind.

Comparing & contrasting the Self & the Mind (a partial Checklist):

(1) Change

a) The Self is changeless.

b) Thought is changeful.

(2) Qualities

a) The Self is singular, state–less, & mode–

b) Thought is multiple, appearing ultimately as thoughts, modes, and states.

(3) Homogeneous

a) The Self is homogeneous.

b) Thought has many

(4) Continuity

a) The Self is continuous Existence–

b) Thought is sporadic & each thought is momentary.

(5) Disappearance

a) The Self does not rise and has no disappearance.

b) The rise and fall of thought can be observed by anyone who meditates with depth.

(6) Objectivity

a) The Self is the Knower, the silent non–objective Witness of all thought. The Self is Consciousness, which is the Knower, the so-called “Knower of the field”.

b) The Mind is the so-called “field” [from the Bhagavad-Gita].

(7) “I”

1. The Self, the True “I” knows thought.
2.  Thought does not know the “I”.

How then can thought pertain to the Self ?  How then can thought defined the Self ?  The Mind cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 35

Mind

Inquiring to liberate the Self from every mis–identification with thought requires thought–transcendent Knowledge.  Such is the Revelation of the Self, beyond all of the Mind.  Initially this may be the Revelation of the Self as the pure, unchanging, Witnessing Consciousness.  In Realization, the Self which is indivisible Consciousness alone is.

Those who are introspective, observing the changeful nature of thoughts in States of Mind, & desiring to be free of the Mind, are intent upon discerning the inconceivable Self that is not to be mis–identified with thought.  Liberation from thought means Abidance as Pure Consciousness. Such Abidance is Freedom from all States of Mind [Waking, Dream, & Deep Dreamless Sleep] & their content.  It is awakening from this Waking Dream.  It is the Realization of that which is not a State.

“Mind” signifies all thought, & Liberation from the Mind means Freedom of all thought of every kind.  There are innumerable permutations of thought.  Some deal with the Senses & some are associations with the impressions past impressions of the Senses.

Some thoughts are more subtle and some are abstract thoughts.  Some thoughts are Memories.  Some thoughts may appear as emotions of various kinds.  Thoughts that are more clear which are sattvic in character (of the nature of the guna: sattva), they point towards Knowledge.  Self-knowledge is Liberation from all of those thoughts.

The Mind may be understood in terms of its aspects, such as manas & buddhi (choosing, imaging Mind & Intellect), or else as manas, buddhi, and chitta [mindstuff] (Mind, Intellect, & Memory).

Inquiring to know the Self, one can see that thought is a power capable of appearing in multiple ways or permutations with varied content.  The same power of thought may appear individually in patterns, in modes, or as States of Mind.  Knowing this one can take Sri Ramana Maharshi’s direct approach [vichara atma, Self-Inquiry] of liberating the Self from all of the Mind at once.

Free oneself from the Mind, from thought, release it realizing that all Duality, which is all experience other than the Self, is a creation of the Mind.  Such creation is due to thoughts & is composed of thoughts.  Abidance free from thought requires one to abide free of Dualistic notions regarding the Mind itself the unmoving Self does not travel through the Mind & thought does not drag the ever–still, transcendent Self about.  The Self is Silent and untouched, endowed with the Supreme solitary power of Reality.  It is not contend with thought, as if thought were an enemy with its own power.  Self-Inquiry entails freedom from the pursuit of delusive thoughts, that in the form of tendencies or vasanas, form samsara.

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

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 34

Body (continued)

Continuing Checklist points demonstrating that the Self never connects with, never really relates to the Body.

Comparing & contrasting the Self & the Body (a continued partial Checklist):

(1) Location

a) The Self is not located in a Body. The Self is not located in relation to a Body. That is the Self is not in or out of the Body. The Self has no location.  Existence is neither a particular part of the Body nor confined inside a Body. If it were a spot or in a spot, the spot could be pointed out, & that very Form would be the Self, or would contain the Self.  But then the Self would neither be Existence or Real, neither Infinite nor Eternal, & there would be no Liberation from Bondage. Then the very declarations of the wise Gurus would become false.  This result & these causes are not reasonable.  The Self is not the Body & is not in the Body. There is no Birth or Death the Self.  The Self does not enter into or exit out of the Body. The self is not in relation to a Body. The Self is not in the Body now, nor is it out of the Body at some other time.  The Self is locationless

b) If the Self would be located throughout the Body or in a bodily spot, such a location would be objective. The Self, though non–objective, & the non–objective cannot have an objective location or other objective attributes.  If the Self were located in the Body, when that part of the Body underwent change or decay, so would Existence itself.  If that part of the Body would be lost, the Self would be lost.  The Self is always present. If the Self would be located throughout the Body exists, Existence would diminish and change as the cells of the Body change.  If one part were lost, even a single hair are cell, Existence would diminish accordingly.  This though is not so, for the self is changeless & ever undiminished.  The Self is not located in the body.  The entire assumption of being located in the Body, as if the body were a container of the Self, is simply not true.

(2 ) Modification, Possession, & Relation

a) The Self is ever as it is with no modifications what the Self is it is always. The Self does the Self possess a Body. For otherwise, the Self would always have the Body, which is not so.

b) Possession of a Body is not in the nature of the Self, & the Self being Reality never changes its nature. The Self does not have a body, as possession implies division or the Duality of the possessor & the possessed, & posits there relation. Existence is Non-Dual & indivisible.  Existence is Absolute & infinite.  Existence is not in relation to anything.

(3) Attribute

a) There is not anything to which the Self could have a relation, as a finite object might the Self does not have a Body, as an attribute can only be for a thing, and pure existence is not a thing. The Self does not have a body. In this lies the Self’s great freedom.

b) The Body with its transience & change, is not an attribute of the Self. The Body does not possess, or have as an attribute, the Self. The attributes of the Body are not the attributes of the Self.

(4) Form

a) The Self is formless. The formless does not have a form in any manner. The Self is Infinite & space–like, ever the same, & bodiless.  The Infinite does not wear a Body, and the space–like has no Form.

b) The Body is a Form. The Body does not possess the Self, & the Self does not possess a Body.

The Body cannot be equated with the Self.

The above themes & 2000 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft One Drive / Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

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

or directly:

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

link directly to free E-book PDF files

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 33

Body (continued)

Continuing Checklist points demonstrating that the Self never connects with, never really relates to the Body.

Comparing & contrasting the Self & the Body (a continued partial Checklist):

(1) Characteristics

a) The Self is not the Body. The Self is bodiless, unchanging, indivisible, unborn, undying, indestructible, ever–existent, continuous, formless, partless, beyond the elements or matter, non-dependent, & self–existent forever. This is beyond doubt.

b) The Body is changing, divisible on, is born, dies, is indestructible, falsely–existent, dis-continuous, with form, part, made of elements of matter, dependent, & not self–existent.

(2) Motion & Action

a) The Self is motionless & actionless. The Self is not affected by the actions of the Body. The Self does not act, move, or change by the results of motions & actions of the Body. Abidance in this Knowledge alone constitutes the truly still & actionless State. This alone is truly Liberation from karma, which can never be achieved within the context of “I am the Body” notion & its corollary concept “I am the doer”.  The Self is free of Birth to Death inclusive of everything in between. The Self is Existence–Consciousness & is never non–existent or in– In Delusion one thinks that the Self, of the nature of existence consciousness parishes rather than that the bodily definition, being with a beginning & being false, cannot last.  Existence–Consciousness as it is purely, is bodiless and has neither Life nor Death.  In Knowledge, this is self-evident.  Thus one who abides in this Knowledge of the Self abides in imperturbable Bliss

b) The Body moves & acts. All physical experience, from Birth to Death inclusive of everything in between, is only for the Body. The Body is inert & not endowed with Consciousness. Existence–Consciousness plus bodily definition is falsely called “Life”, which not being Eternal or True has a corresponding Death.

The Body cannot be equated with the Self.

The above themes & 2000 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/

Reality 31

Body (continued)

Checklist points demonstrating that the Self never connects with, never really relates to the Body.

Comparing & contrasting the Self & the Body (a partial Checklist):

(1) Change

a) The Self is changeless Existence.

b) The Body changes continuously, even if this change is noticed only after some time.

(2)  Birth

a) The Self is itself the Absolute & is never absorbed into anything. That with actually exists, always is. That which can be absorbed, or which has a beginning & an end, is an unreal appearance, & ultimately does not exist.

b) The Body Birth, growth, & decay.

(3) Death

a) The Self is deathless. There is no time when Existence is not, & non–Existence cannot even be imagined without oneself existing to imagine so. If one Self did not exist at some point of non–Existence, who is there to know that non–Existence, & how can it even be spoken about.

b) The Body is transient & is subject to Death.

(4) Parts

a) The Self is partless, indivisible, inhomogeneous, pure Existence. The Existence is beyond its name & more than just its name or designation.

b) The Body is a multiplicity of elements & organs, a conglomerate of cells, apart from which there is no entity that can be inferred to as a Body. There are trillions of cells with quadrillions of interconnections in nerve cells alone.

(5) Matter

a) The Self is immaterial.

b) The Body is matter. How can the Body is composed of matter, the very same that is contained in the food consumed, why should one regard that as oneself ? Before eating the food matter is not regarded as oneself. After eating, it is by Delusion regarded as oneself, provide it provided one does not regurgitate it.  After passes through the system of digestion, the remnants are certainly not regarded as oneself.  Similarly is it with the parts of the Body.  They regarded as oneself only so long as they are connected with the rest of the Body.  Snipping of the nails, cutting of the hair, even loss of a limb, does not result in identification with that missing part.  The mis-identification is thus arbitrary, & delusive layouts associated with proximity to the rest of the form of the Body.

(6) Permanence

1. ) The Self is not momentary but permanent without a moments interruption. Its Existence does not cease even in the absence of Perception.
2. ) The Body is momentary. It endures but for only one Lifetime, at most. It actually appears only in the moments of Perception.

(7) Objectivity

1. ) The Self is non-objective & ever is the Knower.
2. ) The Body is objective & always is only the Known.

(7) Attributes

1. ) The Self is attributless Existence.
2. ) The Body is known by its perceived attributes, apart from which there is no Body.

The Body cannot be equated 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 directly at:

http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58

Duplicate blogs (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/