Jesus said:- "Know
what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to
you. (THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS- Saying 5)
It means one has to know the world which confronts him confronts to realize his body and world are made of the same essence and that essence is Spirit (father).
Sri, Sankara says: one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.[63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.( Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani)
The witness is, different from the
witnessed that Consciousness is distinguished as not being the same; from the
lifeless universe, which is in the form of the mind. The lifeless universe has no real existence
without the consciousness. The
consciousness gives sentient to the insentient universe, which is in the form
of mind. The universe exists as reality,
when on the standpoint of the matter as self.
Man
cannot live without the physical world; it is the basis of his life, so it must
be the starting point of his inquiry. Things, not imaginations, must be the seekers
material.
The
one who knows ultimate truth or Brahman knows the world because uses his soul
centric reason.
One
who loses touch with the external world and gives himself over to his thoughts
alone takes his illusions to be realities and remains in the realm of perverted
intellectualism. Perverted
intellectuality is nothing but egoic exhibition.
Both
sides of experiences have to be inquired into--the duality [waking or dream or
universe] and Non -duality [deep sleep], i.e. matter and spirit if one wants to find truth of his true existence.
People
avoid inquiry into the world, hence cannot find the truth. If they think they
do not see the world by shutting their eyes and omitting it from their thought,
he is still a ignorant and not a Gnani. If there is nothing to be seen, if mere
absence of the external world from cognition gave ultimate truth or Brahman,
then every living creature would attain Gnana or wisdom because it loses the
world in deep sleep.
Seeker
must begin Inquiry with duality, i.e. with a universe to inquire into. It will
end with unity. People try to avoid this duality by ignoring the world. Hence they
get a false unity based on the ego. Whatever is based on ego is mere
hallucination based on the imagination.
There
is a need to indulge in deeper self-search in order to explore the causes, characteristics and nature of the
universe. There is no need to go to run
to the mountain or a monastery or lead a religious regulated life in order to
get ultimate truth or Brahman.
There
is no running away from consciousness, which is the innermost self. It is the
only reality. Hence running away from world is not only illogical but also
foolishness because without the consciousness the world ceases to exist. Thus it is necessary to know the universe as
whole in order to understand the whole universe is formless consciousness.
Gnana
cannot come if world confronts one is left out. The whole universe must be
included. Only when all is known can all be known to be but ideation. Hence
yogis blotting all out in Samadhi cannot lead to Gnana. And yogic Samadhi is
not wisdom. And it is foolish to accept the thoughtlessness is Gnana because in
deep sleep is the state of thoughtlessness but it is not considered as Gnana or
non- dual wisdom.
The ‘I’-thought, the ego, belongs to the duality
as does the universe thought. Intellectuals
may get the knowledge that the witness
is separate from witnessed , but they will never know ultimate truth or Brahman without inquiring into the universe ,
because they are giving up the universe , and hence cannot discover their unity with the universe . The Gnani regards
everything in the universe as consciousness; the intellectuals reject the universe
because intellectuals base themselves on individuality. The individuality is the
greatest hindrance in pursuit of truth because they base themselves on ‘I’ as a
witness, which is not a witness but ‘I’ is mere an object to the formless
witness.
Consciousness
cannot be known in the sense in which one knows objects of thought. It can be
known only to the extent to which he knows them, he can only think of the
knower when he is in the presence of the known, i.e. objects, for the latter
make him aware that a knower must exist. Thus duality makes him think of the
knower, but it cannot make him know the knower. The knower is known in the
world of duality only by implication, as he cannot think without him. The
knower is a concept, and cannot be known in itself.
Consciousness is
known only in the negative way. One cannot make it an object of knowledge. One
can know that he cannot have an idea of an object unless he posit a knower,
unless the knower is implied already. The Formless witness itself is Gnana,
that is, it knows everything else.
