Upanishads says:- What use are the
scriptures to anyone Who knows not the one source from whom they come, In whom
all gods and worlds abide? Only those who realize him as ever present within
the heart attain abiding joy. - Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Everyone is seeking eternal peace, and misery is most unwelcome to all
creatures. Every living creature is engaged in some activity or the other only
in search of eternal peace. But they have not attained this peace
because they are not aware of their formless true identity. Instead they
have gotten themselves entangled only in pain and pleasure because they are not
aware of the fact that, the self is not form but the self is formless.
They have not been able to get this non-dual peace because they seek physical
happiness from external objects, while the truth is that non-dual peace is
within the mind and the search must be made within to attain this supreme
peace, by investigating what is mind and what is the substance of the mind.
All the pleasures that are derived from the world are trifles compared
to that non-dual peace which is the Supreme. Hence, it would the greatest help
if one could show the way to this eternal peace. The Self-Knowledge is the tool
to non-dual peace which is the nature of the true self, which is in the form of
consciousness.
In self-awareness there is complete cessation of sense
“I am the doer ", "the objects that are seen or perceived
are not different from the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness", so on and so forth.
In self-awareness there is no misery or delusion.
There is a delusion or misery for the one who has realized this non-dualistic or Advaitic truth.
“Because he is fully aware the experience is a mere mirage created out of
consciousness. Thus man and his universe are mere experience within the
mirage. In self-awareness there is no mirage only non-dualistic reality.
The mixture of pain and pleasure is inevitable to all beings that are
born within the illusion, which is in the form of the universe. Till a man
thinks he is the doer he is action oriented. In the realm of action he thinks
he is an individual separate from the world. As an individual he has the
conviction that, he is born in this world and the world existed prior to him.
Till this conviction is there it is very difficult to grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic
truth.
Deeper self-search reveals the fact that, the self is not the form (waking entity or ego) but formless (soul or consciousness). Therefore, if the self is
formless, then, one which is born, lives and dies is not the self. If the self
is birth-less than whatever seen, known, believed, experienced on the base of
birth entity is mere myth. Thus the birth entity and its experience of
the world is myth. Hence the world where the birth, life and death takes place
is a myth.
The universe which is present in the form of mind comes and goes as waking
or dream is unreal on the standpoint of the soul the innermost self, which is present
in the form of consciousness. The substance and witness of the mind,
which is present in the form of the universe is consciousness.
Since, the formless substance and witness are one in essence there
is no scope for existence for second thing. Hence it is
non-dual. Thus consciousness alone is real all else is mere mirage
created out of consciousness.
As long as one believes the body as self, he is bound to believe his body
as the doer. Till he thinks the body as the doer, he is bound to believe that,
birth life, death and the world as reality. Till he believes the birth, life
and death as reality he is bound to experience the illusion as reality. Without
the consciousness the body and the world cease to exist.
The birth, life, death and universe are reality within the waking or
dream. The waking or dream is unreal on the base of the true self, which
is consciousness.
Hence if one wishes to overcome the experience of birth, life, death and
the universe (illusion), he has to realize the fact that, the self is not
physical but the self is formless soul,which is present in the form of consciousness.
This awareness of the soul without physicality is possible for
the individual only if the root cause for the ignorance is completely
destroyed. Ignorance arises only if one sees the objects of the world as
external to him. If there is no second object other than consciousness,
then there is no room for any ignorance at all! Absence of ignorance leads helps
one to overcome the illusory cycle of birth, life and death. Once the soul, the innermost self is out of this illusory cycle, there is no scope for experiencing the
illusion as reality. Hence this self-awareness is known as
"Liberation" or “freedom”.
To get freed from illusory reality, following the same track, one must
get rid of the 'Notion of diversity' which is the root cause of experiencing the
illusion as reality. This is the road to non-dual peace, which is the nature of
the true self.
How does one know that, there is no diversity at all, when we have the
cognition of this entire universe with all varieties in its creation?
The truth which is the soul or consciousness is the only reality and that the
apparent notion of diversity (the root cause of all miseries) is only due to
ignorance. If this ignorance is destroyed once then the knowledge of
the soul, the innermost self arises, then one becomes fully aware of the fact that the
consciousness is ultimate truth.
Once this self- knowledge arises, one is able to disconnect identity
with the ego(waking entity) and identify with the soul, the innermost self, which is present in the form of the consciousness. Thus
consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman.
