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.
SK:-
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 nondual 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 he has accepted the
physical existence as truth. 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 (nonduality).
Serious Seekers who
desirous to know the truth, for them nothing brings contentment other than
acquiring the self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana 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
nondual 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.
If the formless soul is the self than :-
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 nondual 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 nondual wisdom dawns.
