Q;- santthosh thanks for that very
persistent and brilliant explanation but may i pl request you to addres the
following issue with more clarity:.Your example that doubter and doubting
,doubted triology dissolving into substratum is again rationalising that conciousness is the absolute.Le me say one
thing Santthosh life doesnt get one bit better and one still has to toil by the
sweat of ones brow and wether or not conciouness is absolute does not add any
value except it is another trip like the ego it s contrarian non ego and may be
the roller coaster ride may stop but what difference it makes when buddha was
asked he said nothing.
A:__ Buddha
said nothing because
The pursuit of truth is very personal journey. The self is nothing to do with the individual
life because ups and down of life is mere illusion. The burden and bondage of
life within the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place, similarly one is
not affected by the suffering of the world when the self becomes aware of the
fact that, it is neither waking entity nor the dream entity. Realizing the
ultimate truth will not bring remedy for our present situation in our practical
life within the practical world but it definitely brings freedom from
experiencing the illusory practical life with the practical world as
reality.
A Gnani may go in silent
mode and say nothing because he knows his body; ego and his experience of the
world and the person who is questioning him are also as consciousness. Thus for him the forms and names are mere
illusion created out of consciousness. And he has becomes one with the nature
of the true self, which is non-dual silence.
The physical existence is reality on the base of physical self.
Whatever one feels as a person is reality within the physical existence. If
physical existence is taken as reality then there is no meaning in seeking
truth because one has accepted the physical existence as reality. Once physical existence is accepted as
reality then the experiences within the physical existence prevail as reality.
My point is we have to view our life from ultimate point of
view, then only we become aware its illusory nature.
The nature of things necessarily unpreventable and
uncontrollable when one regards world as world of diversity. Only when one is able to base his-self from
ultimate standpoint and views the experience of diversity [mind] as
consciousness only, then he becomes aware of their unreal nature of the
physical existence or mind.
One, who has realized that existence and non-existence and
change are in the nature of things, easily finds repose, being unperturbed and
free from ignorance. The pain and
pleasure exist as reality because of having the idea of two (duality). To get rid of the reality of the pain and
pleasure one has to find the formless substance of the duality [mind] to
realize the whole diversity is created out of single substance, which is
consciousness. Realizing the consciousness as ultimate truth, one becomes aware
of the unreal nature of the mind, which appears as waking or dream [duality]
and disappears as deep sleep [non-duality].
Serious Seekers who desirous to know the truth, for them nothing
brings contentment other than acquiring the self-knowledge. For one who becomes
aware of the fact that, the self is not
physical but consciousness becomes aware of the fact that, the physical
existence [illusion] has no base, and its reality is in illusory in its
nature.
Our individual life is nothing to do with ultimate truth. The individual life is reality within the waking
or dream. The three states are mere
illusion on the ultimate standpoint. The ultimate truth, which is
consciousness, is the substance and witness of the illusion and it is within
the illusion and it is always apart and eternal.
As person perceiving the
world one thinks he is born in this world and world existed prior to him, this
conviction makes him physical oriented, thus he views and judges the worldview
on the physical base therefore his understanding is limited to the physicality.
Deeper inquiry reveals the fact that, the self is not physical
but it is formless [consciousness]. On the base of formless [consciousness] as
self, one becomes unreal nature of the mind, which appears as waking or
dream. Thus, the waking is as unreal as
dream.
When man his world are
within the illusion and all his experiences are happenings within the illusion.
Until one thinks the physical self as real self, he is bound to be in the realm
of duality. The one which knows itself as body with the name is not the body
but it is consciousness. When the consciousness withdraws itself then there is
neither body, nor the name, nor the world exists. And consciousness alone
prevails as non-dual existence.
Where
is the body, where is mind, where is the world; the void; or despair in the
true self, which the taintless soul or consciousness. They are or have becomes
consciousness.
One
thinks there is mind when he has thoughts, but when thoughts are not considered
different from the consciousness, which is the true self, then where is the
division into, waking, dream and deep sleep etc.
Void
implies to duality: the universe may not exist but the thought of the second is
there. If one knows there is Void
[emptiness/nothingness], then there is something there to be known and know.
They are or have become consciousness.
What are scriptures, what is self-knowledge, what is mind
without the objects, what is contentment, and where is desirelessness for the
formless soul/true self, which is ever devoid of sense of duality.
What is knowledge? What is ignorance? What is the ego? What is
duality? What is mind? What is bondage? What is liberation? What is definableness to the formless
self/soul, which is in the form of consciousness?
All these appearances are mere mirage, which come and go; hence
meaningless to the formless soul/true self.
The ego based knowledge is not ultimate knowledge because ego
based knowledge is dualistic knowledge based on the object [body] as subject.
But in non-dualistic Knowledge whatever seems to exist also is consciousness;
therefore there is no scope for the existence of the second thing.
What is past karmas? What is liberation –in this life? and what
is that liberation at death? for the birth- less soul, which is ever formless.
Nearest state to understand the soul by itself is to eliminate
mentally waking and dream as in deep sleep.
Once this is grasped one has to understand everything is consciousness,
which is the true self.
What is the doer or the enjoyer?
What is cessation of thoughts or rising of thoughts? What is immediate
perception and its result to, the formless soul, which is ever impersonal. A Gnani is the one who is never afraid of thinking
and knowing all his individual experience and the world to be consciousness.
What is the world and what is meant by the aspirant for
liberation; what is contemplative and what is man of knowledge; what the self
is and what liberated self to the formless soul, which is the non-dual
essence.
When we analyze the dream experience we find the dream entity,
dream world with all people in it appeared as a whole, and the dream reality
lasted until waking experience appeared. When one tries to know the truth of
his true existence in waking through inquiry, analysis and reasoning, one
becomes aware of the fact that, the self is not physical but it is formless
soul, which is in the form of consciousness which is the essence of the three
states from which the three states are made.
Thus the illusions of the three states are made of one single substance,
which is consciousness. By realizing the
formless substance, which is consciousness as self, the ignorance vanishes and one become aware of the fact that the
three states are mere illusion on the standpoint of the formless substance
,which is also the witness of the three states.
When knows the soul as the true self:-
What are projection and retraction, what are end and means; what
are failure and success to the formless soul, which is formless and nondual in
its nature. The mirage appears and merges back into its essence is not an
appearance at all.
What is the knower, the means of knowledge, the object of
knowledge; what is anything or nothing to the soul which is ever formless. Knower, knowledge, object, thing, nothing or
any word one may utter is after all they are the words and words have meaning
only within the mirage. The
consciousness is ever present in all the three states but as a person, one is
unconscious of the consciousness because he thinks the body as his self.
When all knowing, known and knower are simultaneously mental as
in dream what else is there to trouble about understanding them. Because
of considering the waking experience as
reality one is incapable of understanding and assimilating the non-dual
truth.
What
is the distraction? What is the concentration, dullness ad delusion, happiness
and sorrow to the formless soul, which is ever actionless.
As
a person one may be drawn to observe his body and the world, but the Gnani is
not disturbed by because they all are consciousness to him.
The physical attributes are nothing to do with
the soul/self wrongly; all the attributes belong to the ego not the soul. Identifying the physical attribute to the
soul is the cause of the ignorance.
What
is relative? What is absolute happiness and misery to the formless soul, which
is ever devoid of thought and activity?
If
anything has a meaning it is only in duality. Happiness and sorrow are the
nature of duality, which is mind, their differences therefore illusory on the
standpoint of the formless soul, which is ultimate reality.
What
is illusion? What is ignorance? What are birth, life and death? What is world?
What is attachment and what is detachment to the soul/self, which is ever
formless.
The mind and soul are one in essence ultimately. All argument
about consciousness never touches it.
The soul is not the ego in this particular body but principle which
holds the whole physical existence [universe], which contains everyone and
everything known and unknown. All words have no place and thoughts cannot
reach. Even the thought of the soul or consciousness is just illusory and
contradictory, because the thought and words belong to the world of duality.
What is activity or inactivity, liberation and bondage to the
formless soul/self, which is ever immutable and indivisible. There is no division into nations, races and
colours of kinds of men in wisdom. It is
not enough to but one must always see the formless soul [consciousness] as self
and the witness the witness of all the three states and always realize and
practice it. Some people get glimpses
of truth and lose it; so it must be established. Such fixidity is the goal.
What is instruction and scriptural injunction? What is disciple
and guru? What indeed is object of life for the formless soul, which is
absolute and free from limitation?
Life is with world. World is within the waking or dream, the
illusory limitation. When there is no second other than consciousness, then
what is there for the soul /self to attain? But when one thinks the self is
physical, then there is various things he will want to get and so be trouble by
their lack. Hence don’t wrongly imagine the self to be the body.
What is existence, nonexistence, unity or duality? What need us
there to say more? Noting from the soul because whatever seems to emanate from
it, is non-different from itself. There
is no second thing other than the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.
One should not mistake self [soul] for the ego.
Those who assert world is reality, are still in elementary
stages of preliminary analysis. The world is reality within the waking
experience but the waking experience is mere illusion. The same way the dream
world was reality within the dream experience. The dream became unreal when waking took
place same way waking becomes unreal when non-dual wisdom dawns.
