Tuesday, September 4, 2012

‘So long as one thinks “I am” is the self”, thoughts of liberation and bondage will remain.




So long as one thinks “I am” is the self”, thoughts of liberation and bondage will remain. When seeker sees the true self through the inquiry and becomes aware of the fact that, “ Atman is the true self”, and the Atman alone remains, eternally attained and eternally free.  The one who realize the ‘I is not the self but Atman is the true self for him the thought of bondage ceases to exist.’


The general supposition amongst most seekers is that  the sannyasa demonstrates one’s commitment to following the spiritual path full time, and by extension, somehow makes it easier to meditate and realize the Self. But it is not so that the inner renunciation is more important than outer renunciation which is base on the body.

The seeker should  not accept the generally accepted premise that the  sannyasins were in a better position to realize the Self than householders. Living a normal life in the world is not a disadvantage when it comes to making spiritual progress.

Non-dual Peace can never be attained by one who subjects himself to ignorance by embracing the body and the world, regarding them as enduring and beneficial. Equally, suffering or fear will never be experienced by one who renounces this ignorance and reaches the permanent resting place of the mind which is soul or  Atman. the soul or Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

What is it that remains as impossible to renounce after all that can be renounced has been renounced? It is the Atman the true Self, which cannot be renounced.

The earliest ancient sages used the word ‘I’ to the witness of the three states not to the ego as moderns use it and think the ‘I’ without the body is self. The seeker has to understand the fact that the fact that ‘I’ is not the self but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true self, which is eternal. 

People think that the ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ is something different from the mind. They believe that the mind is really two. This is the confusion among religionists and intellectuals. If ‘Soul’ has any meaning, if ‘spirit’ has any meaning, so long as one thinks of them, they are merely ideas. No, Mind is the highest: it is consciousness, non-dual wisdom.

The individual is a bundle of memories, desires within the waking or dream. The memories and desires are part of the duality. Therefore the individual self is entirely part and parcel of the mirage. Peoples ideas of that they will go to some world after death, some astral plane or religious heavens will disappear as nonsense with the disappearance of belief in the reality of the ‘I’.  

Truth realization takes place when one becomes aware of the fact that, ‘I’ is not  the true self, and start identifying with the formless Self. Giving up one physical identity such as ‘I am this and replacing it with another ‘I am that, does not get to the root of the problem of false identification:

Thinking, ‘I am a person who has realized the Ataman’ is only a mental imagination. In realm of truth transcends such imagination. Only discovering the knowledge of the formless non-dual substance, and realizing it as true self, is true liberation from experiencing duality as reality.

 It is not thinking repeatedly, ‘I am someone who has self-realized. Therefore, the thought, ‘I am bondage’; the thought, ‘I am’ is a prison’.  The thought I am is the cause of ignorance.  ‘I’ am ‘indicates the self as being limited to the physical body. When that delusion ‘I am ‘is destroyed, along with it, the duality will cease. Unless the ‘I am the body’ belief is present the duality prevails as reality.