Trev Light Bown: - You say "we" must see the Universe
as a whole not as a part. But
the "we" are the duality as many "I" thoughts.
SK:- Please
do not hold your dualistic yard stick based on the accumulated knowledge. When you are able to understand
and assimilate what I am saying then you will get Non-dualistic yardstick to realize
‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth.
Just understand what
this ‘I’ is first. The ‘I’ is not a thought. Till one holds ‘I’ as a thought he
will not be able to understand and assimilate Non-dualistic truth. As one goes deeper in self-search he becomes
aware of the fact that, the ‘I’, mind, duality, universe, illusion, waking and
dream.
Thoughts arise to the person within the waking or dream. Thinker is the
form. Without the form the thinking is an impossibility. Thus thinker and the
thoughts are part of the known. The witness of the knower and the known
including the world is formless soul.
Thoughts and thinker are present only when the world is present. The
world is present only when the waking experience is present. Waking experience
is mere illusion from ultimate standpoint. If the waking experience is mere
illusion then the thought, thinker and the world are mere illusion.
Thought, thinker and the world are nothing to do with the formless witness. The witness is that witnesses the thoughts, the thinker and the world together. The thoughts, thinker and the world are one in essence. And also the three states are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. The consciousness (soul) is the innermost self. The consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God.
’I’ is not self and self
is not 'I '. 'I ' is bound by form, time and space. Without the form, time and
space 'I' cease to exist. Holding, ‘I’ as self, one remains in the clutches of
duality. When there is duality then there is ignorance. Ignorance is cause of
experiencing the duality (illusion) as reality. One, who identifies the Self as
'I', will not be able to cross the threshold of duality. There is no point in
saying 'I ' or 'I AM THAT' because the 'self' is that which witnesses the 'I '
and the world together without the physical apparatus.
The illusion is present in the form of ‘I’. ‘I’ is
present in the form of mind. The mind is in the form of the universe. The
universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. The individual experiences of birth, life,
death and the world are within the waking experience. The dream is a parallel waking experience and
waking is parallel dream.
Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the, self
is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is
formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states in
succession without the physical apparatus.
This has to be mentally grasped and assimilated to realize the formless
soul, the innermost self is nothing to
do with the three states. On the standpoint of the formless soul, the innermost
self, the three states are mere illusion.
Think and reflect deeply and realize:-
The Self is not the
‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of mind.
The mind (I) is present in the form of the universe. And the universe (I)
appears as the waking (I) or the dream (I) and disappears as deep sleep. The duality (I) is present only in waking or
dream. The duality (I) is absent in deep sleep. That is the duality (I) is present
when the nonduality is absent. The nonduality is the nature of the soul.
Therefore, the soul becomes mind (I). And mind (I) becomes the soul. The soul
and mind (I) are one in essence. That essence is the soul which is present in
the form of consciousness. The consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman.
Non-dualistic truth is the supreme truth. All dualistic systems hold ‘I’ as self. They limit
the ‘I’ to the waking entity (ego), which is the false self. Thus they hold the false self as real self and
false experience (waking) as reality.
Non- dualistic wisdom is the
culmination of all systems including theistic non-duality. A Gnani will not quarrel and argue with any
theoretical philosophy because he is fully aware of the fact that, this
orthodox theistic non-dualistic scholars or
pundits like Dualist sages could not distinguish
between ‘I’ and ‘formless witness.’ The 'I' was the witness. Their highest was
the Jiva. They are so much attached to the 'I' that they do not want to think
that 'I' does not exist. Again they are unable to detach the ‘I’ from the Real
witness.
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’.
“From the standpoint of the waking entity the
universe is a reality from the standpoint of the soul, the innermost self, the
universe is mere illusion created out of consciousness. When wisdom dawns then
one realizes the whole universe is consciousness. The dualistic view is
possible only in ignorance. At the dawn of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or
Atma Gnana there is only non-dualistic view in the midst of duality because the
whole universe is consciousness. Thus all the contents of the universe are also
consciousness. Thus form, time and space are mere illusion created out of
consciousness. If the form time and space are consciousness than the experience
birth, life and death also consciousness.
The
soul is the formless substance and the witness of the three states. If the
formless witness, witnesses the waking experience and its attention is fixed to
the waking experience than the waking experience
is experienced as reality. If the
formless witness , witnesses the dream and its attention is fixed to the dream
than the dream is experienced as reality. If the
attention of the soul is on itself than it is called deep sleep in
waking experience, which is the states of ignorance. If the
soul consciously remains in its formless non-dual true
nature in the midst of waking experience through wisdom it is called
self-awareness.
The three states are an object to the
formless soul, is the subject. The three states are state
of ignorance. In all the three states the soul, the innermost self is
in ignorance of its own formless non-dual true nature. This ignorance
is the cause of the forgetfulness. Ignorance is cause
of experiencing the three states as reality. The three states are the
cause of experiencing the individuality as reality.
Individuality is cause of experiencing the birth, life,
death and the world as reality. The witness and the three states are one
in essence. In the realm of truth the three states are non-existent.
In self-awareness, the three states are non-existent because
they are one in essence.
