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WHAT IS ‘I’?
The ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep, so what is
the use of being attached to it? It is illusory.
Atman, which is in the form of consciousness is that which knows the
appearance and disappearance of the three states, that which witnesses . consciousness alone
remains after one gets rid of the ignorance. consciousness is the formless
witness, until it is realized. It becomes non dual only after inquiry and
reasoning on the true base.
That which becomes conscious of all the things contained
in consciousness, is the witness, the Atman, the Knower. No one has ever seen the consciousness, for it is never an object. Hence logic, inference, cannot be applied to it,
because intellect, logic is for objective world and waking experience only, in
the realm of truth effects from causes.
The greatest mistake is to think of
the ego as self, to confuse the object with the subject. There is no
proof that the seer is confined to the individual and individual experiences, it
is universal. People wrongly think that
the ego is the Witness, even though the ego vanishing every minute.
What is meant by birth, appearance or arisal? It can
only be applied to waking or dream. That to which such words cannot be applied is
the Formless Witness. It is the only thing known that does not vanish. For this
reason it is “the unborn.”
Everything that is seen, everything that is
known, is only the soul or consciousness, because the formless substance and witness of the seen
and known is the formless witness. Therefore all things are really unborn,
uncreated.
Once one understands the ego, he will have
understood most of the non dual truth. One must learn that the ego is different
from the soul or self. Homogeneity is the
natural condition of the soul. Through ignorance one creates dissociations
within it. The first dissociation is the ‘I’.
The true “self" or soul is different
from “mind or ’I’, because when the mind or ’I’ is present then the experience of
duality is there. Absent of ‘I’ is
absent of experience of duality. Thus
the 'I' is not the self, because the self is not an entity or identity
within the experience of duality. The self is the formless substance and
witness of the mind or ’I’.
Mind is the waking or dream. In waking or dream there is objective awareness; thus
mind or ’I’ is objective awareness. One can say all the people are in each others
waking or dream; the idea of is only in waking or dream. No idea is permanent, not
even the God idea, because they are part of the impermanent state of
waking or dream. There is no connection between the Witness and the Ego which
appears and disappears, is pain and pleasure, which the Witness sees. The
witnessing consciousness remains unconcerned.
The multiplicity of individuals and
things; are possible within the waking or dream: It would be mad to deny that they
do not exist. But their existence is unreal their nature. The illustration is the dream, the dream
remains as reality until the waking takes place. Same waking remains as reality till one
overcomes the ignorance of the true self.
What is meant by each existence?
What has become of the vanished or changed individuality of each existence?
What has become of the childhood and youth of an individual once was?"
When one is superficial and fond of imagining, he can say what he likes, but
when he goes deeper in inquiry, analysis and reasoning on the base of the soul
as self, he sees that experience of diversity is not what it seems.
How did ignorance come into the
soul? It is difficult to grasp at the beginning. It is the incapacity, the dullness,
of the mind to understand it. But when the seeking mind gets clear, then it
"grasps" the Truth. Hence the inability to see is not in the
perceiver, but there is something which comes and goes [three states], which
hides and prevents one from "seeing." This "three states"
is like a veil.
The path of religion, path
of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people.
The non dual wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the
nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants
who have inner urge to know the truth, and it is not for those who are immersed
in earthly desires.
There is nothing else but consciousness.’ Consciousness is the Absolute Existence. Consciousness is the Absolute Knowledge. consciousness
alone is real. The three states are not real. The ultimate truth or Brahman and consciousness are one.
The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Soul or self, which is one though
appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only
the Soul or self is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing
appearances.
No one knows where the waking/dream
comes from. No creator who put them in people’s minds is indicated or provable.
We can only infer that they must have come from the Formless Witness, the consciousness, itself. No other explanation is rational. But this explanation is only a
preliminary stop and is dropped ultimately with the dropping of the Formless
Witness, three states relation, when one becomes aware of the fact that, there is
no non-causality, the question itself falls to the ground.
It is not enough to know that the three
states are mere mirage. They ought to also know that the ego also is part of
the mirage; the physical body is also is a mirage. This is even more important
which many have not been able to grasp. Thus the ‘ego’ is an idea within the waking or dream
which is mere mirage.
Seeker of truth should not make the mistake of thinking
that because the three states are mere mirage, and he is apart from the mirage.
He is included in the mirage. There is no ‘I’
where this is seen. Whoever tried to escape from this
mistake but fall into error of ascribing world to God's mind, by not realizing
the fact that, that God also is part of the mirage. Hence the three states are
not man’s experience, but it is of the soul, which is the true self.
Nobody has ever seen God imagining
the world-idea, thus bringing it into existence in one’s mind. Then who must be
the imaginer of man’s objective ideas, when ideas are possible only within the
waking or dream. Man and his imagination are individual experiences within the
waking or dream. Thus the author of the waking or dream is the formless witness, which
is the true self, because waking or dream appears and disappears to the true soul
or self. Consciousness or soul generates, sees the waking or dream.
The ego, physical body and the
world arise at the same time but within the waking/dream one feel they are independent.
Since the whole waking or dream experiences created out of single substance, they
are not independent in reality. However one cannot see the objects within the
waking or dream as apart from each other unless the ego is present. Hence one
thinks that ego rises first. In any case the world, physical body and ego-all
are not independent each other. But only
on standpoint of ego as self, the diversity is felt and duality becomes
reality. On the standpoint of formless consciousness as self there is no diversity of any kind
at all.
Yogi thinks, “He want to know consciousness ,
he wants to attain Union.” So he has the ego and cannot attain. Whereas the
first thing in pursuit of truth is to inquire the ‘I’, and discovering and realizing
the fact that ‘I’ is not the self. Until its illusory nature is perceived and
the seeker no longer says "he wants to attain consciousness.
The seeker has to realize the fact
that, it is impossible to get self-knowledge on the base of ‘I’, which is not
the self. The ‘I’ which is mind, appears and disappears as waking/dream and
becomes unreal on inquiry and reasoning on the true base.”
Yoga lulls the ego to sleep but it will reappear when
the practice is ended. The only way to overcome the ego is to inquire into it.
When one realizes that the go is part of the illusory waking/dream is only waking/dream
is mere mirage it will then lose its power over him.
The knowledge of formless witness itself is non
dual wisdom; it is quite erroneous to say it has wisdom. The distinction
between objects and the knower is produced by the formless witness which is consciousness, the true self.
Every thought and form is an object
within the object [waking/dream]. Formless consciousness the true self cannot be cognized by
any thought, which is beyond all doubt, because it is the ultimate
consciousness of the waking/dream experiences that is consciousness.
Consciousness is the substratum of the three
states: the waking or dream which one experiences in the Consciousness or soul has no real
existence. It is only mirage. The next step is then only "What is the Soul ". It is also one’s imagination within the experience of duality. Duality is
only a superimposition on the formless consciousness or soul or self.
