‘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.
