Secrets of CONSCIOUSNESS
A Scientific Perspective
Sudhakar V Reddy
***************
***************
INTRODUCTION
Secrets of CONSCIOUSNESS is a question and answer treatise in brief, meant to awaken people to move into spiritual journey for Self-Realization. Self-Realization is the recognition and understanding of our True Nature as the "One" Non-Dual Limitless Consciousness. This knowledge and understanding will pave the way to see all living beings in oneself and oneself in all living beings.
*******************
CONTENTS
1. Pure-Consciousness, Consciousness, God, Ego and Mind
Pure-Consciousness, Consciousness, God, How is Truth-Absolute the background of Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness?, Is Pure-Consciousness our True Nature?, Why would Consciousness manifest the world?, How is the world manifested by Consciousness?, Is the world unreal?, Is Awareness the same as Consciousness?, Why does Consciousness allow Suffering?, Can Science find Consciousness?, Thought, Mind, Ego, Types of Egos, Who is Ego-free?, Can Ego choose thoughts? Or, the Ego an Illusion?, Functional Dimensions of Mind, Mechanics of Mind, Arising of Thoughts, Can Mind produce Consciousness?, Can Mind access Consciousness?, Can Consciousness be of a Thought-form and/or a Thought-form be of a Gross-object?, How are Instinct, Intellect, Intuition and Intelligence/Consciousness related?, What is the difference between the Consciousness of a stone, an animal, a baby, a man and a sage? Can Experience/Effort take one to Self/Consciousness?, Can a Negative be an aspect of Pure-Consciousness?
2. Waking, Dream and Deep-Sleep States
What are the Categories of Truth?, What is a Dream State?, Why does the Dream seem so real?, What are the Spiritual Values of a Night-Dream?, Is Waking State like a dream in Consciousness?, What are the differences between the Night-Dream and the Waking-Dream?, What is a Deep-Sleep State?, Is Deep-Sleep a Non-action State?, Are we conscious in Deep-Sleep?, Is Deep-Sleep State the link between the Waking and Dream States?, How is Deep-Sleep Recalled?, What is the Spiritual Value of Deep-Sleep?
3. The Significance of AUM
What is AUM?, What is the significance of the three letters: A-U-M to the sound, language and meditation?, How is I AM/Individual-Consciousness=AUM/God/Universal-Consciousness?
4. Paths to Awakening/Self-Realization
5. Post-Awakening
What is next after Awakening?, What is the Middle-Way?
6. Conclusion
*******************
Chapter 1. Pure-Consciousness, Consciousness, God, Ego and Mind
Pure-Consciousness
The most fundamental law of science, The Law of Conservation of Energy, proves that energy (matter and mind) always exists in totality as a constant and only changes form. It is obvious that matter and mind are constantly changing. The idea/awareness that there are spacious limitations/boundaries requires a Limitless/Boundary-less/Formless Existence beyond space (if finitude is final reality, there would be no consciousness of finitude because limited cannot see limited and/or unlimited but only unlimited can see limited). The consciousness or awareness of any change/time requires a Changeless/Timeless Consciousness beyond time (time can only be noticed from a timeless substratum). Matter and mind also rise and sink together (hence, dependent on each other; means neither one of them is independent; matter is limited by time and time is limited by space; hence causeless and so effect-less; examples: mind-matter, mind-creator, mind-world, mind-ignorance, birth-death; is seed first or tree first is solved by the fact that their support, i.e. earth, is first) requiring another Independent, Formless and Changeless Source, beyond time and space, for their existence (Falsity needs a base, otherwise relatives cannot be seen or thought of; limit cannot be experienced without the presence of Limitless; change cannot be experienced without the presence of Changeless; Changelessness is natural/comfortable/non-dual and, hence, essential). We call this Source as Pure-Consciousness. Pure-Consciousness is, thus, never born and, so, can never die (it is neither created nor destroyed).
Pure-Consciousness is the Dimensionless/Limitless, Open, Empty field/substratum in which all Experience appears, with which all Experience is known and out of which all Experience is made. Pure-Consciousness is the Truth-Absolute (Truth is knowledge that stays the same under all circumstances). Pure-Consciousness is the Source-Absolute, the Source/Origin of Life. If Pure-Consciousness was not Pure but limited in either space, time, object-ness or dependency in any way, it would not have been possible for this infinite diversity and uniqueness to take place in Life. With any limit/imperfection in Source, Life/Existence would not "BE."
Pure-Consciousness is that which knows or which is aware, without a knower status, but cannot itself be known in a subject-object relationship. It is like our eyes which see everything, but cannot see themselves in original. Pure-Consciousness not only knows but also knows itself, just by "being." However, it does not know itself as "something," because there is no second thing in The-All/The-Whole. So, it is not Self-Conscious. If all there is is white color in Existence, then one would not know that it is white. The Whole is "One" without a second. The Whole is Non-Dual. Sun shines on the world as well as itself just by being the sun. It shows the objects as well as itself at the same time. Pure-Consciousness is Perfect and Desire-less. In Vedanthic Tradition, Pure-Consciousness is known as 'Brahman,' which literally means Limitlessness. Pure-Consciousness is defined in the Upanishads (End Parts of Vedas) as: =Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness=Being-Knowing-Loving. This is the most direct, precise and concise expression and/or the background of the Truth-Absolute (which will be proved later).
Krishna sets the criterion for Pure-Consciousness as: "Paramam Aksharam Brahman!"...Bhagavad Geetha-8.3...33rd Century BC...Pure-Consciousness is the Ever-Present, Non-Contradictory and Independent Truth that is Non-Changeable, Non-Negatable and Non-Reducible.
Brahma Suthras, 1.1.2, defines Pure-Consciousness as: "Janmaadi Asya Yatha-ha (Brahman)!"...Vyaasa Maharshi, 33rd Century BC...Pure-Consciousness is that from which the creation, sustenance and dissolution of this world proceeds. In other words, Pure-Consciousness is the Source of this world (This is an indirect definition).
Since Pure-Consciousness is Dimension-less or Quality-less or Action-less, it cannot act/change/participate in Life; it can only bless Life with/in its presence. If you are aware of Pure-Consciousness, it is not that. So, how can you "attain" it? You can't; it is "you" who is trying to attain "you," because "you" are the "Ultimate-Subject" which is always knowing or always aware. Whatever is known will be an object of knowing, never the Subject. Pure-Consciousness is like a flash-light; it lights up everything including itself but it cannot turn towards (or attend to) itself. "You" is too close to "you." You cannot stand and then walk towards yourself, right? It is also like asking Supreme-Power to give you a head on your shoulders. You already have a head on your shoulders. Even that Supreme-Power cannot help you. You can only "realize" that you are that Pure-Consciousness and can only "claim" it as you (like a mind claiming that it is happy through the medium of tongue, like a fire claiming that it is light/hot/red through the medium of burning-wood). Pure-Consciousness is "I-I." "I" is identical to "I." "I-I" cannot even say "I" because there is no other that exists as "thou."
Bible: "I AM THAT I AM!"...The highest and the most accurate statement we can ever make of Non-Duality (I is identical to I; there is no other; there is no trace of any duality)!
As long as you are "seemingly-enclosed" in a body (whether gross, subtle or causal-body which correspond to the bodies of waking, dream and Deep-sleep states respectively - matter, mind and Soul; object, pseudo-subject and subject), you can only "claim" that you are "I-I," or your Nature is "I-I." One can only "be" "I-I" when one is "out" of all the three bodies like a Buddha or a Christ upon leaving their bodies. What else is the proof for Pure-Consciousness?...The very question is the proof because it is lit up by Consciousness. The fact that Life is going on is the proof. The fact that everything else is proved by Pure-Consciousness is the proof. If there is one thing that does not require proof, Pure-Consciousness is it. Because the denial of Existence-Consciousness becomes the proof of Existence-Consciousness. We can never ever say, "I do not exist or I am not conscious." Impossible. If you exist, you are conscious and if you are conscious, you exist. Pure-Consciousness is self-revealing like a candle-light. It reveals objects and at the same time reveals itself. Some other Consciousness revealing Pure-Consciousness is absurd or out of question, because how many Limitless and/or Infinite Consciousnesses can there be?
How can we recognize Pure-Consciousness?...The outer light, lighting up objects outside, and the inner light of Consciousness have something in common in their characteristics. Both are imperceptible to the sense organ or the mind. The existence of the outer light is affirmed by the fact that objects are manifested in its presence. It is a scientific fact that we never see the outer-pure-light, we only see the reflected light. Similarly, the light of Pure-Consciousness is proved or implied by the fact that objects are lit up (or known) in its presence. By seeing what, you know that you have eyes?...By seeing! You are a seer by seeing. You are an "awarer" by "awaring." Similarly, Constant Conscious Experience proves that you are Consciousness. You are Consciousness by being-conscious and Consciousness only can be conscious (matter and mind are inert). This fact is so evident that we miss it. When one raises the palm of his hand and asks someone, "What do you see?," he would almost always reply, "Your hand." No one would say, "Your hand and the light on your hand." We miss or ignore the light. It is the same with Pure-Consciousness. Pure-Consciousness is hidden in plain sight!
Kashmeeree Shaivism: "Our Self (Pure-Consciousness) is the most obvious than the most evident of things and yet most concealed than the most hidden of things!"...10th Century AD.
Consciousness
Life is a Movement, Change, Action. But, Pure-Consciousness is Action-less, Cause-less and Desire-less. So, it cannot "cause" Life. However, Pure-Consciousness can reflect by its Nature, by its mere Presence, by "Being." That Reflection in Ignorance/Illusion "causes" Life, "activates" Life. Sun doesn't participate in plants' activities but plants' activities get activated in the presence of sun's reflection. Consciousness is Pure-Consciousness that is reflected in matter and mind - in a body-mind-complex and/or world. As we know, matter and mind are illusory. It is not a wonder that no scientist could find matter/mind so far. Consciousness is the "seemingly-enclosed" or "seemingly-individuated" Pure-Consciousness that can apparently take part in Life. This "seeming" sense-of-presence is called self, like in myself, yourself, himself, God's self, etc.
Why Life can happen only in Illusion (Ignorance)?...Life means Experience. In order to Experience, Consciousness needs Not-Consciousness. Because, in the absence of that which is not, that which IS, is not. In the absence of the rest of the colors, white color by itself, is not. In order to Experience 'peace,' don't you have to lose it first to 'not-peace?' But, something not being one with Consciousness (The-All, without a second) is impossible. In other words, Not-Consciousness is impossible. What is not impossible, however, is the Illusion of not being one with Consciousness, or the Illusion of Ignorance. So, Consciousness as the Supreme-Power apparently split itself into millions of Individuations (called 'Souls' with varying degrees of purities) and manifested the Relative Realms of Illusion (Physical and Astral Worlds) so that it could (as and through the Individuations) Experience and Demonstrate itself in its grandeur where something "seemingly" other than Consciousness exists. All in Illusion! All in Wonder! That's the reason for day and night, tall and short, good and evil, etc....or, the duality of Life.
Open space is not transactable. When a pot is made, the space "inside" the pot (pot-space) is "seemingly-enclosed" and is now transactable - it can hold water. Seemingly, because the space seems to be divided. But, it actually is not. When we move the pot, we are not moving the space "inside" the pot. Reflected-Pure-Consciousness is like that "seemingly-enclosed" space in a pot. And these reflections are many and infinite. Sun is one but can reflect in an innumerable number of ponds of water. Plants/Life can now grow in that reflected sunlight making the Life transactable. It is the same with Pure-Consciousness. As a reflected but un-mixed/un-contaminated aspect, Consciousness is nothing but Pure-Consciousness even though it has the capability to "seemingly" mix with matter/mind. However, the "seeming" mixture of Consciousness+matter/mind=world has to be an Illusion as Life can only happen in Illusion. Remember, the background/substratum of matter/mind/Ignorance is Consciousness, which is Real and which is You (to be proved later).
Universal-Consciousness or Universal-Self is Reflected-Pure-Consciousness in all of the Universe is Consciousness-at-Rest (Absolute-Potential/Absolute-Cause/Universal-Causal-Body; resting in an infinite body with self-awareness) which is to appear as Consciousness-in-Movement (Life as we know it/World/Relativity/All Individual-Consciousnesses; moving in a finite body with or without self-awareness). Individual-Consciousness or Individual-Self is Reflected-Pure-Consciousness in a body-mind-complex. Ultimately, Individual-Self=Universal-Self=Pure-Consciousness (to be proved later). That's the reason why Consciousness is popularly known as "Self," with a capital 'S.' The words, Consciousness, Awareness and Self are, thus, interchangeable words. The individual body-mind (like a pot with a seemingly-moving-space) can now transact in the world with the seemingly-enclosed-body-bound-consciousness "inside" of this body-mind. That's why sages have identified three categories of Realities: Absolute Reality which is Action-less (the Source), Transactional/Seeming/Apparent Reality (common or shared transactional world) and Subjective/Personal Reality (an individual imagination/dream).
Pure-Consciousness is Desire-less but desires can "arise" in Reflected-Pure-Consciousness. Arising of desires is due to Ignorance (Individual-Ignorance is called 'Avidhya' and Universal-Ignorance is called 'Maya' in Vedanthic lingo) and that is the reason for Life. Desire is the shape Consciousness takes when it seems to forsake its True Nature of just Being and springs towards objects for Completeness. Ignorance is like a mirror in which Reflection of Pure-Consciousness takes place. This Reflection/Consciousness is known as "Chidhaabhaasa" in Vedantha. The religious name for Consciousness is 'Spirit.' Spirituality is the exploration, experiencing and understanding of Spirit as Oneness with everyone and everything. We may ask, "If Pure-Consciousness is Non-Dual, where is the second substance called Ignorance which is also beginning-less?" Well, there is Ignorance only from the point of view of an ignorant individual. From the point of view of Pure-Consciousness, there is no Ignorance. The Independent Sun cannot know darkness but the moon can, because moon's light is dependent on the Sun. The moon is "in" Ignorance. When an individual "loses" his Ignorance through Self-Realization, this question will automatically drop away and he/she shines as Pure-Consciousness. So, the Ignorance may, better, be called the Illusion-of-Ignorance.
Consciousness makes one know that, "I know that I AM," or "I know that I exist." Consciousness is always conscious of "something" and there is always "some-self" which is conscious. In other words, Consciousness is Self-Conscious. The Open, Pure-Consciousness without a body-mind-complex does not have Self-Consciousness. But the very same Pure-Consciousness "seemingly-enclosed" or "reflected" in a body-mind-complex develops Self-Consciousness, “I AM," which is Impersonal ("I am this" is personal). "I AM" is an Impersonal sense-of-presence. If our being was not Self-Conscious, none of us would have the Experience, "I know that I am" or "I know that I exist." Self-Consciousness is the consciousness of itself as "I." Self-Consciousness is the knowledge that one is conscious (or one knows) of being conscious. Q: Are you conscious? A: Yes. Q: How do you know? A: Because I know, it is my Experience.
Consciousness is the continuous awareness, or the continuous element of Experience, that knows objects and also knows itself (Self-Conscious) at the same time. With or without objects, Consciousness knows itself. It is like a "conscious" TV screen. Whether there is a movie going on or not, the TV screen is where it is and always knows itself because the movie is just a modulation of itself (the character inside the movie is the Ego/Pseudo-subject and the landscape is the world). When Consciousness knows selves/objects as itself, it is called Awakening or Enlightenment. Consciousness is continuously and "seemingly" changing (as feeling, thought and perception - the three channels of Experience) and also unchanging at the same time (like a pot-space). When a pond is still, the reflection of the sun in the pond is still; when the water starts moving, the reflection "seems" to be moving. Consciousness is the Unmoved-Mover. An intense movement with lightening speeds is taking place inside a solid rock and yet, rock as a whole is not moving. When Consciousness is "seemingly" changing, it appears limited as mind and matter. When not, it stays as Infinite-Consciousness. Our Experience of the three states - Deep-sleep, dream and waking - is a proof of this. If the two points at the two ends of a line/thought represent the Gap/Consciousness, the line/thought itself is nothing but a series of those points (Consciousness). Isn't it cool?! What is a bigger magic/wonder than this? Personal/Limited/Thoughtful/Mixed Consciousness is knowing an object, but the base/support/substratum and the Witness of both the Personal/Limited/Mixed Consciousness and the object is the Impersonal/Unlimited/Infinite/Pure Consciousness.
Consciousness may be classified into two: Consciousness-at-Rest and Consciousness-in-Movement. Consciousness-at-Rest may be compared to our Deep-sleep and Consciousness-in-Movement to our Dream and Waking States. Why is Pure-Consciousness not Consciousness-at-Rest? Consciousness-at-Rest is a status (endowed with a hidden/dormant potential like our Deep-sleep) that is about to change/modulate into Consciousness-in-Movement, but Pure-Consciousness is not a status or a state. Consciousness-at-Rest is Self-Conscious whereas Pure-Consciousness is not. Pure-Consciousness is neither Consciousness-at-Rest nor Consciousness-in-Movement. Pure-Consciousness is Action-less and is the underlying Presence/Substratum that illumines all the states. It is the Fourth. If necklace, bangle and ring are the three states of ornaments, then gold is the Fourth. If steam, liquid and ice are the three states of water, then H2O is the Fourth. The name that Mandukya Upanishad (the shortest and the most important of all the Upanishads) gives it...is 'Thuriya.'
Another notable difference between Pure-Consciousness and Consciousness is this: Consciousness/Self or "I AM" is the presence of (Impersonal) sense-of-presence whereas Pure-Consciousness or "I-I" is the absence of both the presence of sense-of-presence and the absence of sense-of-presence. In other words, Pure-Consciousness is not Self-Aware because there is nothing other than itself.
Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha, 13.13: "Anaadi Math Param Brahman, Na Sath Na Asath Uchyathe!"...33rd Century BC..."Supreme Reality lies beyond being and non-being!"
Consciousness is the Impersonal "I AM." Consciousness is also known as the "Soul," (could be Individual or Universal) which is Impersonal but "seemingly-individuated," or "seemingly-enclosed." "I AM" is the only "thing" that is not a concept or thought/memory in Life because "I AM" is the most essential, primary, constant and Impersonal Experience of ours that is continuous. Thought/Memory is discontinuous. The "I" of "I AM" is the knowing-witness of thoughts, knowing-witness of Experience. "I AM" is the key to "I." Ultimately, there is only "one" "I," or one Self.
Mandukya Upanishad: "Ayam Aathma Brahman!"...33rd Century BC...'I AM' (is) the (way to) 'I' (Consciousness) and 'I-I' (Pure-Consciousness)!
God
The word God is a mumbo-jumbo word invented by the priesthood. God is misleading because the word personifies. In the western religions, it means "Creator" that created this world from nothing. Then, "Who created the Creator?" cannot be explained in a rational way. If the Creator existed on his own outside of Creation without being created, then what is the problem, why can't the world/Nature exist on its own without being created? In the Advaitha Vedantha tradition, there is no exact word for God. Their equivalent word is "Eeshwara" meaning Supreme Power or Supreme Energy, i.e., Intelligent Energy. Eeshwara is the Reflection of Pure-Consciousness in Universal-Ignorance. Universal-Ignorance acts as a reflection-surface to be reflected upon. World is apparently manifested out of the combination of this Reflection and Ignorance.
Therefore, God means All-Intelligence plus All-Energy. All-Energy or All-Power is known as 'Maya' or Universal-Ignorance or Universal-Illusion in Vedantha. The literal meaning of Maya is "not that which is." Maya is experientially existent but factually non-existent and is an inert, beginning-less principle. Maya/Energy/Nature is the Intrinsic Power of Eeshwara/"Creator", like dreaming is the intrinsic power of an individual. So, Eeshwara is the sum total of all "seemingly-enclosed" Consciousnesses of the world (or the Individual-Consciousnesses of the world) and is called "The Wielder of Maya." God is Universal-Consciousness and the Absolute-Potential or Absolute-Cause of the world. According to Advaitha Vedantha (The Science of Non-Duality), Eeshwara appears as this world, like one's Potential appearing as one's dream world. All there is to one's dream world is his/her Potential-Mind.
God/Eeshwara is Pure-Consciousness with qualities. Since any entity with qualities must depend on something else that is Quality-less or Pure, the Source of God/Eeshwara must be Pure-Consciousness. Because Pure-Consciousness is Independent and Quality-less, God is Pure-Consciousness but Pure-Consciousness is not God like your shadow is you but you are not your shadow or ornament is gold but gold is not an ornament. God is Consciousness-Unlocalized (an Individual is Consciousness-Localized). God is Consciousness pervading the body-mind-complex of the Whole Universe. World is apparently manifested when Pure-Consciousness reflects on the Universal-Ignorance/Maya. Reflection-of-Pure-Consciousness+Maya=Eeshwara/God which is free of Ignorance/Maya/Illusion.
God is "I," the Impartial/Impersonal Witness of Life. God is the "Universal-Soul," or the "Universal-Consciousness," the Ultimate "I." The main difference between an Individual-Consciousness and Universal-Consciousness is that the Universal-Consciousness is "Enlightened." The fact is that the Individual-Consciousness/Soul is also "Enlightened" but forgot/ignored it - in the interest of selves/objects/world. Why?...Because it wants to know and feel the selves/objects/world as itself. That's what the Soul is after. The Soul doesn't care for what it does but only cares for how it does. The instrument an Individual-Consciousness/Soul uses to forget itself is called thought/Ego/mind. Individual-Consciousnesses are apparently covered with Ignorance (of varying degrees or layers of mind qualities/purities), whereas the Universal-Consciousness/"Creator"/God is free from Ignorance. Universal-Consciousness is Pure-Mind. Ignorance projects Life. The reason for Life is Ignorance which is beginning-less but can end for an individual. The "ending" of (the Illusion of) Ignorance is Awakening. Eeshwara, therefore, will not intrude into, but facilitates individual desires.
Therefore, God is neither a person nor an object. It is simply a Presence, Godliness. It is not any "thing." It is "no-thing" or nothing. Nothing that appeared as Everything. Zero that appeared as Infinity. However, God is Zero and Infinity simultaneously. In other words, God is the Ultimate or the Absolute or the First-Cause of this Universe with its Source as Pure-Consciousness. The Universe demands a cause, a First-Cause, "outside" of time and space or in the Absolute-Realm as in 'Big Bang.' Denial of First-Cause violates the Law of Non-Contradiction, one of the four laws of human thought/reason/logic that form the foundation of science.
Even though the First-Cause/God is in the Absolute-Realm "outside" of time and space, it requires a Source in the Absolute-Realm as God is Changeable/Actionable implying a limit/dependency. That Limitless/Dimensionless/Eternal/Independent Source is Pure-Consciousness which will not require a further Cause. Cause and effect won't apply to Eternity which is "prior" to and "beyond" time-space-causation which apparently caused/started the time-space-causation. Balyaani: "God (Pure-Consciousness) does not need another Self in order to know itself!" "Beyond" means in and through the world but not affected by the world or unreachable to the world - like light pervading a hand. When one realizes/claims one's identity with Eternity, all the questions about time-space-causation and God will automatically dissolve.
Just like our Potential-Mind that projects the Night-dream-world is the link between the dreamed-character and the Dreamer-Consciousness, Godliness (All-Potential) that projects the Waking-dream-world is the link between the Waking-individual and Pure-Consciousness. It is impossible to bypass God/Godliness/All-Potential for Self-Realization because God is Complete-Knowledge (Enlightened-Being). "I" (All-Potential) is in the middle, between "i" (gross, subtle and causal bodies) and "I-I" (Pure-Consciousness). Absolute (Consciousness-at-Rest) is in the middle of Relative (Consciousness-in-Movement) and Supreme (Action-less and Desire-less Pure-Consciousness). Upon Self-Awakening (world is in me, 'Aathma Swaroopam', you came out of your body to pervade all, me-ness/realism/'ahamkaara' is absorbed; Eeshwara/God is the one that has the world as its body), one needs to go back to the world (Eeshwara's Manifestation or Eeshwara itself) to recognize that he is also in the world ('Eeshwara Swaroopam', get into the world by pervading deep into the world, mine-ness/dualism/'moha' is to be absorbed). Therefore, change your narrow vision of the world to universal vision or not-two-ness vision. As is the vision (absolute knowledge), so is the scene/experience. Basis of existent things (perceptions) is Space and the basis of thoughts (concepts) is Consciousness. See the world/matter as Infinite Space and see the person/mind filled with a thought of Infinite Consciousness. Manifesting the unmanifest Freedom is Freedom. In order to see the world as "I," you need to see the "i" as "I" first. Therefore, know thyself first; know the "I." Know the "I" by "being" the "I." What good is it to know the other without knowing yourself? Unless we know the truth (Nature/Essence) of the knowing-mind (through which everything else in our Life is known), nothing true about the known can be known.
How is Truth-Absolute the background of Pure-Consciousness or Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness?
The first aspect, Existence, is the only "thing" in Existence that does not go out of Existence because No-Existence is an illogical concept (because No-Existence IS). Existence is the only common element of all selves plus all objects at all times and in all states/circumstances and, therefore, not limited to any particular self or object - henceforth, infinite/limitless. Existence/Being/Is-ness simply IS. Existence is the foundation for Life as the "quality" of Existence is the same for all and/or everything, like space. The fact that there is Life or something out there or something going on, means that Existence has always been and will always be. Energy is neither created nor destroyed - is the most fundamental law of science. Existence/Is-ness, as the independent and infinite/limitless presence/entity, lends existence to selves/objects/world like the absolute-temperature (-459.67 F) lending existence to all other temperatures. Truth-Absolute is defined as the Independent and Limitless Presence that is Permanent/Eternal/Unchanging and is Non-Contradictory. So, Existence is the Truth itself, the Absolute and the source/background of all phenomenal existence. We can deny the existence as a form or as a name, but can never deny the existence of Existence/Being.
Existence/Being cannot be Existence without Consciousness/Knowing. If Existence is not known, it itself is not. In other words, if no proof exists, it itself is not. In order to be able to say, "I exist or I AM," one must know that "I AM." And the "Experience" "I AM" is not known by something other than itself. Just by being, you are also knowing. When we say that, "I know that I AM," the "I" that "I AM" is the same "I" that knows that "I AM." In other words, Existence must be knowing itself (however, not as "something"). It is not something inert, but it is aware/conscious. Therefore, Being implies Knowing. If Knowing/Consciousness did nor pervade Being/Existence, Being/Existence has no validation (Existence depends on Consciousness for its existence). Can we negate Knowing/Consciousness?...Absolutely not. You need Consciousness to negate Consciousness because you need to be aware or conscious of the fact that you have negated Consciousness?! Is it not? Consciousness needing another Consciousness falls into infinite regress. Besides, Consciousness is infinite and, hence, 'One,' because the second Consciousness conscious of the first Infinite Consciousness has to be bigger than Infinity which is absurd/illogical. Also, Consciousness knows itself (a lamp does not need another lamp to be its proof; just like fire cannot burn itself, Consciousness cannot negate itself). Therefore, Truth-Existence=Consciousness/Knowing. It is Existence-Consciousness. It is Being-Knowing. So, Existence-Consciousness is incapable of being known (in a subject-object relationship), because it is Knowing itself. It is the Ultimate-Subject that is always and/or eternally knowing. Thus, Consciousness is Absolute and the source/background of all phenomenal knowledge.
Existence-Consciousness can never lead us to No-Existence/No-Consciousness, for, the moment No-Existence/No-Consciousness is known, it becomes Existence-Consciousness itself. No-Existence and No-Consciousness are illogical/irrational concepts. No one can deny this fact.
Now...What is the Knowing of your own Being as it is or the Consciousness of your own Existence as it is? It is called Limitlessness or Pure-Love because there is no "second" thing in the Existence that is different than Existence, because there is this inherent absence of resistance. This absence of resistance, where the subject is only knowing the subject, is nothing but the Highest-Love or Self-Love or Loving-Absolute. Truth, being objectless, is incapable of being felt; incapable of being loved. So, Limitlessness must be Love itself, Pure-Love. Thus, Limitlessness (Fullness/Completeness) must be Absolute and the background of all feelings. Pure-Love in itself is not any feeling but is the collapse of any and/or all feelings. Any feeling is an Experience that begins and ends. Pure-Love is not any blissful feeling but the permanent, ascertained knowledge that I am full and complete. This is uncaused, permanent bliss. If there is a feeling of bliss, that would be the by-product of this knowledge. This Pure-Love is known as 'Aananda' in Vedanthic Tradition. The root word for Aananda is 'Anantha' meaning Limitlessness. Since this Loving is inherent to Existence-Consciousness, Truth-Existence-Consciousness=Limitlessness/Loving. It is Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness. It is Being-Knowing-Loving.
Hence, Truth-Absolute is the background of Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness. Pure-Consciousness=Brahman=Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness=Being-Knowing-Loving. These three are not separate; they are three aspects of the same "One" Truth-Absolute from three different angles like "one" fire having three aspects of light, heat and redness.
Taitthiriya Upanishad (33rd Century BC): "Sathyam Gnyaanam Anantham Brahman!"...Pure-Consciousness=Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness!
Is Pure-Consciousness our True Nature?
Yes. We cannot be what we perceive or think. Whatever we are must be constantly with us, naturally with us, inherently with us. What is that Experience that is constantly with us?..."I exist" or "I am present" or "I AM." That Impersonal, Pure "I" is Who We Are. No one can say "I am not." Even to assert that you are not, you must be present to make that assertion. And no one can say that Consciousness is not present because the very assertion arises as an object in present awareness. The sense of being or the sense that "we exist," and the sense of knowing that we exist stays with us all the time and under all the conditions. In other words, I AM and the ‘I’ that I AM, is aware that I AM. This knowing of our own being as it is – its knowing of itself – is the most familiar, intimate and obvious fact of Experience and is shared by all. This present and aware ‘I’ is referred to as ‘Self/Consciousness,' which means the ‘presence of that which is aware.' It is a word in which the two fundamental qualities of our Self – Being and Knowing – are recognized as one.
This sense of being present and aware must be the Nature/Essence of what we are. Being and Knowing - Existence and Consciousness. Being and Knowing are not two separate entities. We cannot "be" without knowing and we cannot "know" without being. We are that with which we are aware of our Experience but which itself cannot be known as an object. Dimensionless Consciousness could be likened to an open, empty (knowing) space to which or in which the objects of the mind, body and world (thoughts, sensations and perceptions) apparently appear. And just as empty space, relatively speaking, cannot resist or be agitated by the appearance or activity of any object within it, so the open, empty (knowing) space of Consciousness cannot resist or be disturbed by any appearance of the mind, body or world, irrespective of their particular quality or condition.This inherent absence of resistance in Consciousness is the Experience of Happiness; this imperturbability is Peace and/or Fullness. This Happiness and Peace are not dependent upon the condition of the mind, body or world and are present in and as the Essential Nature of Consciousness under all conditions and in all circumstances. Thus, Happiness, Peace and Fullness (or Loving) as well as Being and Knowing are essential to Pure-Consciousness which is our True Nature. In the light of Pure-Existence and Pure-Consciousness, no duality can appear. This Non-Duality is Absolute-Love or Pure-Love. Fullness/Limitlessness is inherent in Existence-Consciousness.
We can know ourselves to be all love, but if we do not Experience ourselves being loving, all we have is a concept about ourselves. We have no Experience of it. It is one thing to know ourselves as something, it is another to Experience ourselves as that. For example, it is one thing to know all about sex conceptually, but it is entirely a different thing to Experience it. This knowing will not have any meaning or significance without Experience. It is like looking at the back-end programming on that CD chess game and seeing all the moves. Yet seeing all the moves is not the same as making all the moves. In order to make the moves you have to play the game. That is the reason for the Physical and Astral Worlds. Consciousness wants to "BE" through Experience. And BEING is Consciousness' highest State of Existence.
Consciousness has to be both the cause and the effect, the potter and the pot. Normally, when we create something the substance undergoes a change. If we want to make cheese we start with a sweet liquid, milk, and end up with a sharp tasting solid. But cheese cannot be turned back into milk. Hence Consciousness has to create a "finite" world by assuming another form without surrendering its "Infinite" intrinsic Nature. And this is possible only by dreaming or imagining. The so-called "product" would be Manifestation, not a Creation.
For instance, when you dream you remain the same and you manifest the dream world out of your own Potential. You are the substance of the dream, you are the intelligence that creates the dream and you are the energy that makes the creation happen. You are both the subject and the object, the cause and the effect. The beauty of it is that because you are the apparent cause you are not affected by the effect. The effect depends on you but you aren’t affected by it. Isn't it cool? It is like this: You may get cut in your Night-dream but you are not affected by it in any way.
A spider’s web is the spider but the spider is not the web. The clay is always free of the pot but the pot is not free of the clay. As the rope appears in the form of a snake in twilight and as the sleeping man appears to be doing in a dream world, so also Consciousness appears in the form of the world. The gold doesn’t become a substance called ornament because the ornament is only an appearance with no actual/real existence. And before, during and after the appearance of the ornament, the gold remains the same. It is the same with Consciousness.
So...In the highest understanding, Consciousness does not "create" or "become" the world but appears as such on account of the apparent limitation put on it by the mind in Ignorance. Creator/Creation is a need for the mind, because the mind cannot conceive Infinity and Eternity. Mind sees Eternity as time, Infinity as space and Consciousness as matter. Consciousness as Potential makes people (in their dreaming state) manifest and Experience things in dreams without actually creating those dream objects. Similarly, Consciousness as Potential also makes people (in their waking state) manifest and Experience this waking world without actually creating this world. Potential, as you know, is the Intelligence+Power within the Consciousness that makes the impossible possible - which is Life as we know it. Life is, thus, an Appearance within Consciousness, known by Consciousness, made of Consciousness.
Thought
Thought or imagination is the focusing of Consciousness upon anything other than itself. Thought ('Vritthi'=Disturbance in Consciousness)=Consciousness+Object. Object is anything that is experienceable. The origin of thought is the Absolute-Potential which is inexplicable. When Consciousness seems to forsake its own True Nature of mere Being and springs towards other things in the form of desires, it becomes a thought. Thought is the instrument Individual-Consciousness uses to forget/ignore itself or its True Nature in the interest of the world. Why?...Because it wants to know and feel the world as itself, so it can "BE." Ignorance projects Life. The reason/cause for Life is Ignorance.
Mind
Mind is the shape/activity/modulation (name-and-form) that Consciousness seemingly takes to Experience a finite world. Mind ('Anthahkarana'=Internal or Subtle Instrument) is Consciousness aware of an object in space. Mind=Consciousness-Localized. Mind=Consciousness+Subtle-Body/Pseudo-Subject+Object. Mind=Ego (the first or root thought)+Other Thoughts (of objects). Mind is not an entity, it is more like a process, more like an event. If you look for mind, you can only find thoughts. Thoughts are moving so fast that you think and feel that something is existing there in continuity. Thousands and thousands of thoughts continually give you the Illusion of mind. It is like the concept of 'crowd.' There is no such thing as crowd as a separate entity; crowd is simply made up of individuals. It is like a movie on a screen made up of individual frames/stills. 'Mind' is to, 'thoughts' what, 'ocean' is to, 'waves/water.'
Let us label an Experience of last night's dinner as Perception A. This morning, an image appears 'in the mind' that is an approximate representation of Perception A. Let us call this Image B. These are now followed by a thought, thought C, that connects Image B to Perception A. In order to connect two non-existent Experiences (A and B) together, thought C imagines 'a vast container' in which Perception A and Image B are considered to reside, although at the time of thought C, neither A nor B are actually Experienced.
This 'vast container' is called 'mind.' This 'mind' is imagined with the thought that thinks it. Mind has no existence other than the thought that thinks it. Once the mind as a vast container is considered to represent something that actually exists, thought can have a field day. It can populate this imagined container called 'mind' with all sorts of imagined Experiences such as time, space, memory, objects, people, birth, death, causality, etc. etc. Mind is immaterial when compared with matter but it is a subtle material when compared with Consciousness. Since mind is an object for a subject (mind or thoughts are known), it is considered non-intelligent or inert. Mind is not self-revealing. Mind is an instrument.
The English word mind comes from the Greek 'menos.' The root word for 'menos' is Sanskrit's 'manas.' Manas in Sanskrit means the faculty of thinking or an instrument of thinking.
Ego
Ego is the first or the root thought. Ego=Consciousness+Subtle-Body/Pseudo-Subject. Ego ('Ahamkaara'=Consciousness/Self in a form) is a confused mixture of Consciousness and body-mind-complex. Ego is Consciousness pervading a body-mind-complex with a sense of Personal-doership and/or Personal-enjoyership. Ego is a temporary and an apparent limitation (in imagination) imposed by the Infinite Consciousness to Experience something apparently other than itself (objects). Therefore, Ego as an activity of Consciousness is not a problem, but Ego as an independent entity is the problem. When your Ego runs amok, it not only continues to do the job of separating you from Everything Else, it separates you from your True-Self. It makes you think that you are IT, not that it is a part of YOU. Your Ego, the Smaller-Self, has then confused its job, imagining that it must protect you from knowing your very Larger-Self. Smaller-Self is a perception tool that must be used as a device with which to see the Larger-Self. Use it as a tool, not as an identity. Ego is "I am this." Ego is a thought with "me" attached to it. Ego=Me-ness.
An analogy: In an ocean...A wave's shape/form (short wave, tall wave, etc) is gross/physical-body or matter, its name/characteristics (gentle wave, aggressive wave, etc) is Ego/mental-body or mind, the water content (pure water, dirty water, etc) is soul/causal-body or "seemingly-individuated" Consciousness, ocean is God/Creator/Absolute-Potential/Absolute-Cause and H2O (the unchanging essence of water) is Pure-Consciousness.
Types of Egos
Ego may be classified into two main-types: Impersonal-Ego (Working-Ego or Being-Ego) and Personal-Ego (Thinking-Ego or Knowing-Ego). Impersonal-Ego is "I AM" and the Personal-Ego is "I am this." A baby is born with no Ego and develops personal Ego in about two years. That is the reason he cannot remember anything under two years, because if there is no Ego there would be no memory (memory needs a center on which to hang). Impersonal-Ego is the Ego that is centered in its Consciousness part whereas the Personal-Ego is the ego that is centered more in its material part (body-mind). An animal also has no Ego, it has an Ego only in a prey-and-predator type situation.
Thinking-Mind is a Conceptualizing-Mind, the "me." What is absent after "Enlightenment" is the Thinking-Mind, the "me" distinguishing itself from the other. The conceptualizing Thinking-Mind, the mind which draws upon memories and projects fears, hopes and ambitions: that is absent. The Working-Mind is what remains. Working-Mind is merely concerned with what is happening, with what it's doing. The Thinking-Mind is what creates problems. The Thinking-Mind works either in the past or the future. The Working-Mind is concerned with the present moment or 'now.' The Working-Mind may draw memory for its present work but it doesn't project anything into future. It draws on the memory only to the extent of the job at hand. Memory for a sage is mere data/information; it is disassociated with a "me." That is the big difference.
Consider an animal in danger. As soon as there is danger, the animal senses that danger and reacts to it. Once the danger is over, the animal mind doesn't think "Such a thing might arise in future, what evasive action should I now take?" The danger is over and the matter is finished. This is Working-Mind. In Working-Mind, the identification or, rather, the association with the body is there; it is absolutely necessary. If you are identified with your body, with the sense of Personal-doership and think that you are the Experiencer, that you are the doer, then there is bondage and the Thinking-mind gets involved.
Personal-Ego/Thinking-Ego is of eight sub-types. In Sanskrit, these are known as Gnyanam, Poojyam, Kulam, Jaathi, Balam, Vridhim, Tapo, Vapu...Superiority based on Knowledge, Respectability, Class, Race, Power, Riches, Spiritual Power and Beauty. Ego based on the superiority of knowledge is the subtlest of all and is the most difficult one to get rid of. Your ideal of egolessness will bring in subtler, and potentially greater, Ego.
The man who has no ideals is Ego-free. How can the Ego be created in that situation? - the very energy is missing. The energy comes out of friction, conflict, struggle, will. Have an ideal, and you will become an Egoist. The idealist is an Egoist. The greater the ideal, the greater the Ego. The Personal-ego is created between the real and the ideal. You may have the ideal of Egolessness - that doesn't matter, the ideal itself brings in the Ego.
Your idea of Egolessness will bring in subtler, but greater, Ego. The Ego is very intoxicating; it makes you unconscious. You become two persons: one voice says "Do this," the other voice says "Don't do that" - then the Ego arises. This is the whole mechanism. That is the reason we are all, to some extent, schizophrenic. If you are real or whole, the Personal-ego cannot exist. So the real Egoists are those who think and announce that they are humble people, who pretend that they are Ego-less. Well, there no such thing as Ego-less or Ego-death as long as you are with a body, but you can be Ego-free as an "Enlightened Being" is. Your shadow is You, but you are not your shadow; You are free of/from the shadow.
A man with no Personal-ego or no Personal-doership will not claim anything good or bad; he will not claim at all. "The track of the men of knowledge is as invisible as that of the birds in the sky!"
Let us say that thought no.1 is: Do I like to have a tea or coffee? Decision=thought no.2: Tea. Thought no.3='I' chose the tea. So the choice takes place in between those two thoughts. The choice has already been made. In between the thoughts no.1 and 2 something was present which chose the thought no.2. That is Consciousness. So the chooser as the Ego was not there between those two thoughts. Ego just claims that it has made the decision with thought no.3. It is an impostor. A thought, an Ego, which is thought no.3, imagines that there is a chooser in the system between these thoughts. But, that chooser itself is thought no.3. The chooser is not there in between the thoughts; the notion of the chooser is simply itself a thought which appears retrospectively. Individual-ego is an after thought; it is a filler thought. In actuality, the chooser or the Ego is never there. Therefore, Ego is an Illusion! An illusory person cannot make a real choice.
The second rung, intellect, gives you something higher than biology, chemistry, the animal Nature. Intellect gives you reason, argument, logic and comes from your conscious mind (Knowing-mind or Thinking-mind). Intellect has nothing of its own, all is borrowed. And that's one difference between intelligence and intellect. This does not mean that you cannot use intellect or you have to discard intellect, you only have to transcend it. Intellect functions through our subtle-body.
Intuition functions in a quantum leap and comes from your Heart/Soul, it is the action of our Soul (Working-Mind). It has no methodological procedure. Intuition simply sees things which we cannot intellectually infer. It simply knows. Intuition is clarity without any calculation/questioning. Intuition transcends reason/intellect, but does not usually contradict it. It may not be right all the time. If it is against dharma, you should not listen to intuitive feelings. Experience happening in sequence and instantaneously-'sequentaneously.' Intuition functions through Soul/causal-body.
Instinct won't hear, it is deaf. It has no ears, no eyes and no legs. Instinct works as programmed. Intellect will hear but it can only philosophize; it is blind, it cannot see. It has ears and legs but no eyes. Intuition is a seer, it has eyes and ears, but no legs. It sees the Reality in its own way-there is no question of thinking about it. Intuitive-Mind will not tell you anything, it will simply act in the moment - instinctively. Intelligence/Consciousness is not intuition. Consciousness is the knower of intuition. Instinct and intuition are both independent of the individual. Instinct always leads you to the other. Intuition leads you only to yourself. With the unconscious you are an animal. With the conscious you are no longer animal. With the super-conscious you are a man fully flowered.
Intelligence is a response to a new situation, a response not from your past memories but from your present awareness. It is a spontaneous action or responsibility of your Being. The more you are in the past or are in the future, the less intelligent you are. Intelligence is intrinsic to Life. It is a natural quality of Life. Just as fire is hot and air is invisible and water flows downwards, so is Life intelligent. Intelligence is not an achievement; we are born intelligent. Trees are intelligent in their own way, they have enough intelligence for their own Life. Animals are intelligent, so are birds. Have you ever seen a bird you can call idiotic?
An animal is conscious of its existence, but not conscious of its consciousness. An animal is not Self-Conscious. An animal has more Life and more freedom. It can move. Consciousness is coming like a dream. An animal is in a pre-consciousness or pre-egoic state. The mind is not yet fully developed. It has a loose or fluid Ego. An animal lives in the past, has no idea of the future. Its Experience is of undifferentiated mass. It is not separated out as the "me" and the "other". It knows itself and others only as a prey and predator.
In man - mind, intellect and Self-Awareness arise. He is in an Egoic state. Man can exist, he can know that he exists, and he can also know that he knows that he exists. A man is conscious of his Consciousness. He is Self-Conscious, Self-Aware. But there is a calamity with it - the Ego. With thinking and personality, comes future orientation; a man basically lives in the past and the future. He is aware of past, present, and future. Consciousness is now awake but underneath it, dreams are still floating. Man's wakefulness is not the same as Buddha's wakefulness. There is lot more freedom of course, but it is a pseudo kind of freedom. Because this freedom of choice is influenced by his genes and conditioning. A mind which is full of thoughts of objects cannot be free. He is in Illusion, he is in Ignorance. The man has not recognized the reality of Consciousness yet.
A sage belongs to the fourth state. A sage is in a post-egoic or Enlightened state. He is also in a state of no-mind like a stone, but with a vast difference. His no-mind state is, actually, a non-mind state. He is at rest, he is relaxed - but his relaxation comes from dropping the time itself. His mind is calm, ripple-less lake - but not by remaining below mind but by going "beyond" mind or by transcending the mind. A sage has become fully conscious that the mind is not needed (as we know), or we can say that his mind is pure. A pure mind reflects Consciousness in its entirety. A sage has recognized the Nature of Experience as Consciousness. The stone is so unconscious that the the mind can barely exist. The stone knows no past, no present, and no future. And so is the case with a sage - he lives in Eternity. He knows that past and future (mind) are Illusion, a dependent reality. Freedom enters only as a shadow of Consciousness; the more conscious you become, the more free. A stone is bound. An animal is also bound.
Take a a beaded necklace analogy, in which, the stone is not aware of anything, the animal and the baby are aware of beads as a collective unit, the man is aware of beads as separate units and a sage is aware of the beads with the underlying thread that connects it all (Oneness connecting the all). The thread in this analogy is Consciousness.
1. Dream/Appearance is the only way Consciousness could apparently manifest a world without compromising its intrinsic Nature as Infinity and Immutability because it is impossible for Infinity to become finite or Unchanging to become changing. Physical world is, thus, manifested as an Illusion/dream so Consciousness can now apparently Experience a finite object by imagining itself as a finite subject - all in Appearance, all in Illusion, all in Dream. Don't we, as individuals, perform this feat perfectly every night?
2. Human beings consider that whatever is clearly Experienced, can be transacted and has utility, has to be real (ETU). But this proposition is not valid as a Night-dream has all the same features. And the Night-dream is only conditionally-real, not absolutely-real. ETU is possible because of an actual creation as well as a seeming creation, like pot-space. The space in a pot is not a separate space; it is seemingly separate. Therefore, based on ETU, the waking state should not be considered as an 'actual creation.'
3. Consciousness does not disappear or change at any time. We call Night-dream not-real because it disappears and appears as something new. In other words, it is changing. Now, what is there in the waking state that does not change or disappear. Nothing. Therefore, everything objective, connected with the waking state, is not real. When the not-real appears as real we call it a dream or Illusion. Therefore the waking state is like a dream. It is only conditionally-real; its existence is borrowed.
6. The strongest objection against equating the waking state with the dream state is this. We think that the waking world exists independent of us (an objective existence) and is continuous but the dream world exists dependent on us and is discontinuous. Firstly, this tells us that the waking world must have originated from some other cause other than me. But, dream is accepted as a projection only in the waking state and never accepted as projection in the dream state. Similarly this waking world is an objective world as long as it is looked at from the waker’s perspective. But if looked at from the neutral/Consciousness angle, the waking world will not remain objective. Secondly, assuming that the waking world is not my projection and that it has an independent existence of its own, then there must be a cause for this world. But the analysis shows that the "Creation" of the waking world can never be logically established and so the objective existence of the waking world is not a viable fact.
Waking world disappears in Night-dream or in Deep-sleep. When others say that this waking world is real and exists continuously while you are sleeping, it proves only their Experience. Other people are part of the world that you are trying to investigate. This is very subtle to understand. Imagine the same thing happened in your Night-dream. Once up from the Night-dream, you realize that the entire dream was not real including those people who said that the world was real. Those people are not certainly existing in that dream world now. The same thing holds true now in the waking state. The solidity of the material world (matter vibrates at a lower rate) gives us the false impression of permanence when we get back to waking from sleep, but everything is continuously changing. You don't even get back into the same body in the morning; it is a new body/mind. It’s the sense instruments in the physical body that structure the waking state and make it seem logical and well ordered. The impressions are no longer structured well in the subtle world, they just come up and express without having to work out through the physical body. But remember, there is continuity in the dream world also because you never have any doubt that the dream is discontinuous while in the dream.
Thus, in all respects the dream world and the waking world are similar and enjoy the same degree of reality which proves that the waking state is also like a dream state. What you are experiencing in the waking state is dream-like. The individual is a dream character as matter and mind (a robot). But, as Consciousness it is Freedom.
What are the differences between the Night-Dream and the Waking-Dream?
Though from the highest standpoint the world may be dream-like (non-substantial), but from the standpoint of a separate-self, the waking state and the world should be understood as real and that the world is important. The idea that an external elephant is not there and that you can dash your head against it, is wrong. It is there but both, it and your body, are ideas. Therefore during transaction, the world importance should be recognized and adherence to dharma and karma should be followed. The Law of Karma is valid in this plane. Do not underestimate or overestimate any relative reality. If you do your duty, you are not underestimating. When you are underestimating, you refuse to do your duty. If you are worrying over your duties, you are overestimating. Do the duty and do not worry. Liberation is using the world without obsession or fascination. If you underestimate a rope-snake, it may bite you. If you overestimate it, it will cause you misery. Keep the rope-snake where it belongs. Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha: “May you keep the external world outside!"...33rd Century BC.
1. We do not cease to exist. That means it is the state of unconditioned being.
2. On waking we are conscious of having slept soundly, though that absence, as such, can never be Experienced in itself. That means the principle of Consciousness remains without its seeming to assume the duality of a conscious subject and its object. This reinforces that our presence is conscious and consciousness is present. You are conscious of the no-thingness or the absence of objects.
3. We always look forward to the enjoyment associated with sound sleep. That means Deep-sleep, from its own standpoint, is the state of peace or self-contentment.
The expression, "I was unconscious," is, therefore, a contradiction in terms. It means "I," the thinker, had no thoughts. But "I" cannot be a thinker when I have no thoughts. When thought is absent, "I" remains in Being although the consciousness of an individual existence has vanished with the cessation of mental activity. Thus the expression, "I was unconscious," implies that "I continued to exist without individuality." Every human Life proves this fact, although it is not recognized. If, for example, there were any fear lest the loss of Individual-Consciousness meant annihilation/extinction, no one who identified himself with his body-mind would dare to fall asleep.
There are two different routes for the explanation. The more popular approach is the one followed by Mandukya Upanishad. Comparable to the awake state sentence “I cognize a pot,” the corresponding sentence made with respect to Deep-sleep, in this approach, is to say: “I cognize Ignorance or nothing (in Deep-sleep).” According to this approach the really real cognizer is someone different from the waker, dreamer and Deep-sleeper. He is the Fourth ('Thuriya') or Pure-Consciousness. This Fourth one is the true 'I.' The followers of this approach tell us that the waker 'I' is only a fallacious entity and they exhort us to know the true 'I.'
The second approach (base on Taitthiriya, Aithareya Upanishads) suggests that the waker 'I,' who was actually absent during Deep-sleep (Ego), is an imposter/pretender when he explains away his own absence saying “I slept well.” Deep-sleep is not in time. Ego cannot 'go there.' The only evidence, in the waking state, for the existence of an Experience called 'Deep-sleep' comes in the form of a thought. Thought first imagines Deep-sleep and, in order to conceive of it in its own language of apparent objectivity, it superimposes onto it the qualities of blankness and duration. The true 'I' is actually Deep-sleep itself as it is the "being" itself – peaceful, spaceless and timeless. The true 'I' or Pure-Consciousness knows itself in Deep-sleep (and always). There is no other thing/object to be known in Deep-sleep. Therefore to know Deep-sleep, simply take your stand knowingly as the Presence of Pure-Consciousness that you are.
Mandukya Upanishad: "Ayam Aathma Brahman!"...33rd Century BC...'I AM' (is) the (way to) 'I' (Consciousness) and "I-I' (Pure-Consciousness)!
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (by Yagnyavalkya): "Aham Brahma 'smi!"...73rd Century BC...'I AM' (is) Pure-Consciousness!
What is the significance of the three letters: A-U-M to the sound, language and meditation?
A common teaching is that AUM represents all the major points of creation of sound. “A” comes from the guttural region or back of the throat for pronunciation. “U” comes from the palatal region or roof of the mouth for pronunciation (pronounced as OO). “M” comes from the labial region or from the lips. These three locations represents the major points that sound can be produced; it also represents the complete manifestation of sound. AUM is the substratum of all the sounds/words. AUM stands for the sound and not the letter which is found in all languages. It sums up all the sounds in all the languages. There are two kinds of sounds; struck and un-struck. AUM is the un-struck sound; there is no instrument. When you become absolutely silent, suddenly it is there. The sound AUM will reverberate in you. This reverberation starts at a point beneath the navel and ends at the tip of the nose, all by itself. AUM is the music of existence.
A baby says aa, oo, ma before he says anything else. These are the only three sounds we can utter without the help of our tongues. These are the basic or universal sounds. And then you are using our tongues in different ways to mix these three basic sounds to produce the rest of the sounds. It is like a TV producing thousands of different colors using the three basic colors of red, yellow and blue. The ancient Greek alphabet has omega as its last letter. Omega written in the lowercase of the Greek alphabet, if turned to its side, looks quite similar to the Sanskrit way of writing AUM. It is from the Greek alphabet "omega" that we have the English phrase "the alpha and omega," or "the alphabets and AUM," which means, "to include everything."
Where can we locate/perceive t=0 at present? Where can we locate/perceive the Pure-Light and/or 'Now' at present? Well, any perception must involve these two elements: Observer Subject and Observed Object. So, let us analyze these two.
Where can we locate t=0 for an Observer Subject?...All perceptions take place in our minds. And Individual-Consciousness is the Observer which witnesses everything that is happening in our minds, yet not affected by anything.
Look at the sun; the light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach us (t=8 min). That means we are looking at the sun that was 8 minutes ago, not the actual sun or not the 'Now' sun. Sun is, thus, a 'memory' object. In fact, the Universe is only made up of 'memory' objects. It is just impossible to find a 'Now' object in the Physical Universe. Look at the moon; the light from the moon takes 1.3 seconds to reach us (t=1.3 sec). Now look at the tree outside the window; the time taken for light to reach the eyes is 10 micro seconds (t=10 micro sec). As the distance reduces, the time taken for the light to reach our eyes reduces. Remember that any perception entailing even the slightest time involves Reflected-Light, not the Original-Light or Pure-Light.
If you extrapolate this backward, the only logical location for t=0 (or 'Now') is in the Subject/Observer itself, who is watching/observing these objects. That is where Pure-Light (not Reflected-Light) can be located. So, t=0 is the coordinate for Individual-Consciousness that is within you.
Now, where can we locate t=0 for an Observed Object?...Well, by the same reasoning as above, for any object to be a 'Now' object, it must be within the Subject/Observer. At t=0, the sun is a 'Now' object and this 'Now' object is beyond the space time framework and is within the Subject. If not, any object would be a 'Memory' object (when we see the sun, we are seeing the sun that existed 8 minutes ago). The only way to understand this is that, for any object to be outside the space time frame work, it must be in its 'un-manifest' or 'potential' or 'seed' form within the Subject/Observer. There is no actual sun here, but there is only the potential to become the sun. In the same way, Subject has the potential to become any object in the Universe.
t=0 for the Observer/Subject is within each one of us. And we saw that the t=0 for all the objects (the Observed) is also within us. However at t=0, both Subject and Object are not separate from each other; Object collapses into Subject. They are completely unified and homogeneous with no separation whatsoever. This is the singularity which science is referring to. It is the unity of the Subject and the Object. This means at t=0, the Subject is not only Aware/Conscious but must also be Self-Aware or Self-Conscious. In other words, this Subject must be Aware of itself in the absence of any Objects. Objects are only in the potential form. This is also the condition of Existence-Consciousness prior to "Creation" because the Existence-Consciousness must be known by itself (it is the only one and independent); otherwise it is No-Existence-No-Consciousness which is meaningless. Being and Knowing are one. You must "be" to know and you must "know" to be.
Consciousness in each of us is Self-Aware (Whatever is aware must be Self-Aware; A second Awareness aware of the first Awareness is meaningless); therefore t=0 is Individual-Consciousness/Self. Since t=0 equals AUM/God/Universal-Consciousness at Big Bang, Individual-Consciousness/I AM=AUM=God/Universal-Consciousness. It is, therefore, logical to conclude that the Big Bang was apparently "born" out of this Self-Aware Consciousness. The matter and energy, space and time, are apparently "born" out of this Self-Aware Consciousness, IAM/AUM (I AM and AUM are one and the same Consciousness which is the Reflected aspect of Pure-Consciousness).
Self-Immersion may be accomplished through Nature, music, art, poetry, dance, rituals, sex, etc. leading to Beauty. This may also be accomplished through self-less service - surrendering the results of the actions to Totality - leading to Purity. Self-Inquiry is accomplished through thought leading to Knowledge/Understanding/Truth. Self-Surrender is the surrendering of Ego through devotion leading to Love. In Self-Immersion and Self-Surrender, cleansing of the body-mind by effort becomes a prerequisite for Awakening while in the method of Self-Inquiry, it happens after the Awakening (which will then be easier because it is a practice without a practitioner; practice with a practitioner may unnecessarily reinforce Personal-doership in the other two paths). Self-Inquiry is a direct and a top-down approach. It has a tremendous advantage.
Self-Immersion (understanding the relationship between form and the Formlessness), Self-Surrender (understanding the relationship between action and the fruits of action, understanding the relationship between the seer and the seen, understanding the relationship between the lover and the loved) are progressive or indirect paths rooted in duality; Self-Inquiry (understanding the Nature of the Self) is direct. Self-Inquiry takes you directly to the understanding of your True Nature. No effort should be needed as True Nature is an effortless state. Our age and culture is ready for direct path.
Realization is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there but obstructed by the screen of thoughts/conditioning. All the above means fulfill the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought, which must also disappear before realization. Self-Inquiry involves only the subject and is the most direct and the best method to transcend the last thought. Any other path besides Self-Inquiry cannot remove Ignorance with ease. It is only a step. It removes obstructions. All other paths are certainly useful to gain a quiet and clear mind that would be ready for inquiry. But if you think these paths/practices are going to solve the problem of knowing yourself, that is almost impossible. Any practice is a movement that takes you away from yourself, the Self/Truth.
All these paths may also be classified into two basic paths: Self-Surrender and Self-Inquiry - Path of Action and Path of Non-Action/Knowledge, Dualistic Path and Non-Dualistic Path. Self-Surrender is of surrendering the sense of Personal-doership which must come from intelligence, not from confusion. Self-Inquiry is the practice of discrimination between the Self and the not-Self. Self-Surrender is the path of extroverts and Self-Inquiry is the path of introverts. Upanishads (and also Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha) mention only two basic/fundamental paths: Karma Yoga (Self-Surrender, path of action, Krishna calls it Yogam) and Gnyaana Yoga (Self-Inquiry, path of Knowledge or Consciousness, Krishna calls it Gnyaanam) because the basic/fundamental duality is between Knowledge/Consciousness and Maya/Illusion/Ignorance.
All Yogas/Efforts except Gnyaana Yoga will fall under Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga, in essence, is a preparatory step for Gnyaana Yoga because doing can never take you to Being. It only prepares the extrovert mind to become introvert. Any dualistic path (bhakthi and dhyaana are also internal karmas using mind/time and are proactive; Brahman cannot be changed into what you are imagining; Brahman is beyond time-space, so anything you do proactively with time or space will not "fetch" you That; duality is darkness and darkness cannot uproot darkness and, in fact, will increase darkness; ignorance breeds karma and karma breeds ignorance; Individuated Consciousness can only grab Infinite Consciousness; being as seen is not important, seeing as being is) is useful to attain either something that is to be manufactured or something that is to be fetched. However, Awareness is ever ready-made and is available everywhere (Brahman must be grasped as it is, not as one imagines it; Since Brahman is Knowing, Knowing can only be grasped by eliminating ignorance from your mind and in this respect knowledge/mind is not a doing-tool but an undoing-tool; it is like getting back to natural health from unnatural disease). Karma Yoga (Cosmological/Objective and Faith-Based Path) neutralizes one's likes and dislikes, burns the impurities, karmas. Karma Yoga is needed for Volitional-mind, 'Practice of Essence' is needed for Emotional-mind, Listening-Reflection-Discrimination is needed for the Knowing-mind/Thinking-mind. It is only Gnyaana Yoga (Individual/Subjective and Rationalistic Path) that removes the association plus identification of Consciousness with Maya/Illusion/Ignorance (or objective Experience) intellectually leading one to the understanding that Maya/Illusion/Ignorance (the mind and the world/matter) is not-real and that there was really never an actual association between them. So, ultimately, it is only Gnyaana Yoga (the pathless path) that eliminates our Ignorance and all other paths can only lead to Gnyaana Yoga.
1. Sit comfortably. 2. Watch the incoming and outgoing breath until the thoughts quiet down. If thoughts intrude, simply watch them disappear. Do not fight. 3. When surrounded by silence (which is the 'gap' between the breaths), take your attention from the breath and fix it on the silence. Silence is the most tangible manifestation of the Self, the substratum of all Experience (it is the Reflection of the Self). This state is called 'Savikalpa-Samaadhi,' the Experience of being aware of being aware, the "I AM" state. 4. Now, inquire into the Nature of the Self. The question of what illumines the blissful, silent, peaceful presence needs to be answered. Who saw the light? Turn/Relax the attention to the Witness of the silence (which is Consciousness Principle) and ask who is the Witness of that silence? The answer is that "I AM that Witness-Consciousness." Well then, grab that knowledge, and claim it!
A Sufi Saying: "When you go inside yourself you find the world. When you go out into the world you find yourself!"
However, Knowing/Recognition that "I AM" (step 1), exploration of the Nature of the Self/Consciousness (step 2) and Feeling of Love/Oneness (step 3) are essentially the same Experience: Knowing of your own Being. When you know the reality of mind and with that the reality of matter, you now know or feel Love. You are Complete: Existence-Consciousness-Limitlessness or Being-Knowing-Loving. "I am this body-mind" is waking and dream states, "I AM" is Deep-sleep, "I AM I" is the Enlightened or the True State. One’s lying, having forgotten one’s Existence-Consciousness, “I AM,” and having drooped, is the matter (Inertia). One’s being confused, “I am this body-mind,” is the Ego/mind (Activity). One’s experiencing one’s Existence-Consciousness, “I AM,” without any forgetfulness, is God/Eeshwara (Purity).
A Zen saying: "Awakening/Enlightenment is sudden, but the deliverance is gradual!"
You will realize that THERE IS NOTHING OTHER THAN PURE-CONSCIOUSNESS! Pure-Consciousness is opposed to nothing, no second thing!
Therefore, Consciousness, 'I', casts off the Illusion of 'I' as the Ego and yet remains as 'I', Consciousness. Consciousness has never been other than itself. When you are "being" or "I AM" knowingly/completely, the question "Who am I?" drops away. There is no "one" to get Awakened or Enlightened because the "me" that is desiring Enlightenment is no more. The whole thing is a great joke!
Sleep involuntarily and you will be taken to the ignorant man’s Deep-sleep. Sleep voluntarily and you will be taken to Nirvikalpa Samaadhi. Sleep knowingly and you will be taken right to your True Nature of Pure-Consciousness, "beyond" all states. "Beyond" means in and through the world but not affected by the world like light pervading a hand.
A famous Zen saying: "Before one is enlightened, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth (half-way stage), mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after Enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters!" In the first stage, world is made out of matter and mind (real, Consciousness merged in Experience); in the half-way stage, world is an lllusion (dependent reality); in the last stage, world is made out of Consciousness which is Total Freedom (real, Experience merged in Consciousness).
The most salient/important feature/quality/characteristic of Awakening/Enlightenment is that the seeker stops seeking. At this point everything stops and there is a subtle shift in awareness in which the foreground becomes the background and the background the foreground. "I am this body with Consciousness" becomes "I am Consciousness with a body." The Ego/mind, the Pseudo-subject, meditating on the God/Self, the object, becomes the object and the God/Self, formerly the object, becomes the subject. This foreground in a sage takes the form of a Witness, a 'Saakshee,' simply watching the Life unfold with no trace of any separation. And this never changes, because it is obtained through the knowledge that “What I Experience is Me, but I am not what I Experience.” In other words, one merges into the Self/Consciousness. Unlike an Experience, the Self can never be lost, because it is Me, the basis of everything – and there is nothing other than it to lose.
Gauthama Buddha defined Enlightenment as the end of suffering, where suffering is caused by the sense of Personal-ownership/doership. So, Enlightenment does not suddenly make us immune to pain or make us in control of the Universe. It does not mean that everything works as we wish and will. It is simply the condition of someone abiding in his or her real Nature. That's all. Enlightenment is not a transcendental state, a higher state, an altered state, a “fourth state” or any other kind of state. No particular Experience of special bliss or happiness comes with Enlightenment, although Enlightened Beings tend to be blissful. Enlightenment means that you know that you are the knower of every conceivable Experience. It means that you never confuse what you are experiencing, and that, the experiencing is you but you are not the experiencing.
Awakening/Enlightenment is simply the (remembrance of) hard and fast knowledge that “I AM Whole, Complete, Ordinary, Unchanging, Action-less, Limitless Consciousness.” And when this knowledge is firm, it does not produce a permanently blissful mind. However this knowledge produces a sense of rock solid confidence in the person (intellectual as well as emotional). The person knows that henceforth he can handle any situation in Life without any discomfort. When it is clear that you are the knower of the Experience, the craving for pleasant Experience (likes) and the aversion for unpleasant Experience (dislikes) disappears or, more precisely, becomes non-binding (a binding desire causes repetitive unconscious behavior). This allows the love to flow continuously to all selves and to all objects.
Upon realization, Appearance (non-binding-duality or projected-duality) stays but Ignorance (binding-duality or perceived-duality) goes/disappears (this question is actually not relevant as the world as matter and mind was never there in the first place). Concepts stay but the belief that the concepts refer to Truth goes. A sage sees both variety (Illusion) and unity (Truth) simultaneously. He sees a table and knows it as the Self in a single simultaneous operation. That is the test of Knowing. He is fully aware of the differences in the world yet is aware of the underlying unity. A person who expresses the physical and the spiritual at the same time is a being who is "fully" Enlightened. An Enlightened Being never denies duality, only its reality as matter and mind, because, like the snake in the rope, it isn’t actually there. We may call this Enlightened-Duality. We can participate or enjoy the Duality/Manifestation but can invoke the Non-Duality at will.
So, an Enlightened Being/sage realizes Peace/Love in his attitude towards Life, not in the flow of Life. Life always delivers pain and pleasure as part of the flow of Life which will be registered biologically and then a body/mind organism will react as designed per its biological preferences. On the other hand, suffering which is a psychological reaction, is not on the level of flow of Life but always in relationship to our attitude towards the flow of Life. A sage realizes this truth and remains peaceful in his attitude in any circumstance. He is neither uncomfortable with himself nor uncomfortable with the other; sense of Personal-doership has been completely uprooted. Ego (I-doer, me-ness) has become "I-sense/I AM" because he still identifies with his body for a day-to-day living. He has completely surrendered his individual will. He has realized that his will is the same as Totality's will.
The sage's position is that if enjoyment comes, he accepts it; if it does not, he keeps quiet. Even when he is taking pleasures, however, he is not deluded by them and he regards them as a game he is playing for he knows their's unreality: he does not take them seriously. And there is no coincidence, and nothing happens “by accident.” Each event and adventure is called to your Self by your Self in order that you might create and Experience Who You Really Are and demonstrate it. All true sages/masters know this. That is why masters remain unperturbed in the face of the worst Experiences of Life (as we would define them). This means that an Enlightened Being or a sage has converted his identification with the Ego to a seeming or an apparent association with the Ego. That's it. His doing coincides with the Happening; doing and Happening become one.
Then, what will an Enlightened Being get?...An Enlightened Being loses Ignorance or we may indirectly say that he gets peace of mind. Peace of mind is to be at ease with oneself and also at ease with the other. Therefore, search for Peace/Love; not for Enlightenment. If you search for Enlightenment, you may never find it. According to Vedantha, an Enlightened Being (who has realized the three aspects of Reality all at once: Existence, Consciousness and Completeness) is benefited by SSS: 1. 'Swathanthryam' (...i) psychological independence or freedom=mithya/world is Me but I am not mithya, I am Sathya/Truth; ornaments are Me but I am not ornaments, I am gold; I only depend on Me ii) intellectual strength/fulfillment, I know the entire truth of Manifestation), 2. 'Samathvam' (equi-poise, equanimity through ups and downs, likes and dislikes, patient endurance of pain and suffering with calmness, emotional strength to face ups and downs of Life, emotional stability, state of balance with no extremes or obsession; equal-vision internally and externally or 'samadarshanam') and 3. 'Sampoornathvam' (fullness=I am complete=I am Peace/Aananda/Fullness myself). The first S is freedom from dependence, the second S is freedom from ups and downs or dualism and the third S is freedom from limitations. All three freedoms, ultimately, free you from Ignorance. In other words: they give intellectual, psychological and emotional freedoms and also freedom from separateness/mind.
With Enlightenment, certain psychological/attitudinal genes and conditioning are dropped (Ignorance or unconscious-mind has disappeared, sense of Personal-doership has been dropped) leaving the biological genes (that came with the birth) and some basic conditioning intact (It is a scientific fact that the basic conditioning or personality is formed by age seven. Aristotle: "Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man."). Cellular memory that was part of the body that came with the birth (programmed at the moment of conception) can never be dropped. If a sage has an inclination for sweets, it will stay. Since the Self-Knowledge takes place in subtle-body (a mental level, not a physical level), the effects of knowledge are derived only at the mental level. Vertical reaction to events/thoughts will happen automatically, but the horizontal involvement with the undesirable/selfish acts will drop. Me-ness and Mine-ness are dropped, but Selfness, I AM/I-sense has to stay as long as the sage lives (in a body) for the day-to-day transactions to take place. Since he has already shed his subtle and causal bodies, there is no need for him to take another birth when his gross-body sheds. A sage lives physically until the body-mind's present-karma runs out, and with the full benefits of SSS and CCC, and Complete Consciousness. He lives due to the impressions/karmas of the Totality so he could teach.
Constantly repeating desires are binding. An Enlightened Being does not need to get rid of all of his desires; he just needs to make all of his binding desires non-binding, so that the desires no longer dictate his actions. Desire in purity is not a problem, desire contaminated by Ignorance is the problem. Life, now, happens to him. Functioning of Manifestation is like a dream. He is simply a Witness. He is a lucid-waker, witnessing all the phenomena in the Waking-dream including his body. Attractive and/or aversive reactions do not arise, if they do they are simply witnessed as not-Self. Love flows continuously to all selves and to all the objects (personal love is an obstructed love). An Enlightened Being deals any situation with LOVE. He treats everyone as if they are his own children (remember that a child may be punished if needed). Love is the only law in spirituality. A sage's actions are no longer 'for' happiness, but are 'out of' happiness because he is Happiness/Peace/Aananda himself.
There is a common misunderstanding that when ‘one wakes up' form the waking state dream, that the dream goes away and, in its place, a better one emerges. In actuality, the dream simply continues as it did before; Maya/Illusion does not change. The difference is that you now know Illusion as Illusion and that the body/mind is involved. You enter a new phase of Life: it is similar to lucid dreaming. The dream does not go away. The only thing that changes is our recognition of the Illusion, that what you Experience is not the Ultimate Reality of what you truly are. Just as a scientist simultaneously sees the table and yet knows it to be atoms, so a sage sees the table and at the same time knows it to be Pure-Consciousness. In both cases there is no conflict between the sense-perception and the mental knowledge. This allows one to become playful and approach Life as a celebration. You live in the timeless moment and the contentment of your aloneness, permitting the mind to chatter on since you are no longer married to it.
A sage has the freedom, however, not to attend to the consequences or happenings by refraining from rising of his Thinking-ego to get (personally) involved further and by turning inward (remember, any "beingness" act is free). His identification is with Consciousness/Love. He understands that actions taking place through all body-mind organisms are not of any individual's actions but are part of Impersonal Functioning. Experience simply goes right through him without any resistance. He reacts biologically in vertical time but he has no Egoic reaction in horizontal time. Similarly, in a sage, a desire can arise but the sage does not pursue the desire unless it is God's will.
He does not, thus, identify himself with thoughts, feelings but simply witnesses them. They get cut off without any further involvement/engagement/judgement. No fear, no problems attach to them. A sage is in duality, not in realism and not in dualism. He is back in the 'now' like a child. However if the situation demands, a sage may respond (i.e., deliberately act) in the interest of Totality (without any tint of Personal-doership). His action is rooted in inaction. Such a person no longer makes decisions based solely on fears and desires. He will start to interpret Experience from the point of view of the Self/Consciousness.
Therefore the notion that a sage should never get angry or never pretend to anger is erroneous. He may do so if it is not in his Egoistic interest, if he sees harm is being done or if it is for the benefit of others/world. Did Krishna not urge Arjuna to fight, even to kill? A body part infected with cancer may be removed in the interest of keeping the organ working. Legs infected with disease may be amputated in the interest of keeping an individual alive. A sage will live as he pleases, above codes but this does not mean he will do wrong, harm others or cause suffering; for his self-identification with them will prevent this. Masters are those who have chosen only Love. In every instance. In every moment. In every circumstance.
The Enlightened Being does not criticize or praise men, but he does criticize or praise actions. He does not speak ill of persons, but he must condemn or discourage wrong actions and praise or support right actions. The ignorant, however, condemn or slander the persons concerned. For he must set an example and guide people into the paths of right action which are stages of discipline that will gradually lead them towards Pure-Consciousness whereas wrong actions lead them away from Pure-Consciousness.
Thinking-mind is a conceptualizing mind, the "me." What is absent after Enlightenment is the Thinking-mind (dualism), the "me" distinguishing itself from the other. The conceptualizing Thinking-mind (which is either in the past or in the future), the mind which draws upon memories and project fears, hopes and ambitions: that is absent. The Working-mind (Embodied-Enlightenment or the mind in the 'now') is what remains. Working-mind is merely concerned with what is happening, with what it's doing right now and right here. The Working-mind may draw memory for its present work but it doesn't project anything into future. It draws on the memory only to the extent of the job at hand. That is the big difference. The Thinking-mind and the Working-mind may also be called as the Knowing-mind and the Being-mind.
Then there is no subject perceiving an object. When the "me" and the "other" drop off, what remains is (Impersonal) Love. There is only the happening of a perception without judging, a mere witnessing. Witness is the form Self takes in Embodied-Enlightenment. Working-mind only knows Love and acts in the interest of Love without any choosing/judging. Remember: Love is the only law that applies in the Realm of Consciousness.
An ordinary person does not accept duality of inter-connected opposites and he chooses one of the opposites (which is dualism). He only wants good and not bad, beauty and not ugliness, etc. not realizing that one cannot exist without the other. So in his judgment he chooses one against the other (for his personal interests). Thus the individual ends up miserable in dualism. A sage never chooses good against bad; he simply moves, just like a sunflower, towards the direction which is that of good, that of love. His Nature is Love, Completeness, Aananda, and he has recognized it. What needs to be done, in a loving and rightful way, becomes what he wants to do. (If you want a yardstick with which to judge whether a thing is good for the human race or not, ask yourself a simple question: What would happen if everyone did it?) A realized person will not violate responsibility/dharma because he or she is in harmony with it. If you are in harmony with the world there is nothing to follow or avoid. The law applies to one who knows a little, not to children (who do not know anything) or the Enlightened (who knows the essence of everything and so inline with everything).
Therefore, Total Acceptance is Peace. Follow the flow of Life but change your attitude towards Life. Remember, choosing/judging involves thinking/doing and that will further entangle you in mundane-life or 'samsaara,' the Wheel of Karma.
In Eeshwara/God/Now-Here, for the first time this and that appeared quite apart from each other. Consciousness-at-Rest is modulating itself as Consciousness-in-Movement. Thus, three elements suddenly appeared: That which is here. That which is there. And that which is neither here nor there or nowhere or now-here - but which must exist for here and there to exist. All that exists in the Physical Universe is seemingly composed of either positive or negative (dyad). This is the binary system of all Physical Life. Metaphysical Life, on the other hand, exists in a triangular system (triad). Because to create anything you need a minimum of three forces/aspects, less than that won't do. This Triune Reality is God’s signature. It is the divine pattern. It is the Singular Experience - three in one, the Spiritual Realm. Examples of physical dyads include male-female, up-down, left-right, and so on. Examples of metaphysical triads include Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, Son-Father-Holy Spirit, mind-Soul-body, here-nowhere-there or before-now-after. Things are reduced, by design, from their original triad form to the lesser state of the dyad form for physical manifestation and for the purpose of "Complete Experience."
An example of how Consciousness manifests itself at various levels of perception is the human binary Experience of warm and cold. We say that a thing is either "warm" or "cold." This is a binary consideration suggesting that a thing is either this or that. In the physical world many people have a way of looking at things that categorizes them as either black or white. This "either/or" configuration is common. Deeper exploration reveals that either/or configurations are simplistic at best. We find that there is more than simply "warm" or "cold", but that there could also be that which is neither warm nor cold. We call that "tepid." There is a neutral state that exists between the extremities that form the binary system of things physical. This place of neutrality is the balancing point between the extremes of the dyad. It is in recognizing the existence of this balance point that we acknowledge the True Nature of all Life to be at least a three-point system. All things in Physical Life are triangles simply appearing to be straight lines with a beginning and an end. That is, all things in Physical Life are closed systems that appear to be open systems. In metaphysics this reality is more apparent.
However, in truth, all things in manifestation retain their triad form, merely appearing to manifest as dyads. Only a triad creates the possibility of a continuum; a dyad cannot. In the body-mind-Soul triad, the Soul is the balancing point between the body and the mind. The causal-body is the balancing point/link between the gross-body and the subtle-body. The causal-body is the "cause" for the gross and subtle bodies. Every time we are in and out of a thought (out of gross-body and/or subtle-body), we have to go through a "gap" which is Deep-sleep or Soul (this is not really a gap but the Ever-Present Infinite Consciousness). The religious name for causal-body is 'Soul.' The body and the mind could be seen as the two extremes of a strictly binary system. In strictly binary thinking, things are either "physical" or "non-physical." That is, they are considered to be either matter or energy-or what we would call "body" or "mind." By thinking triangularly we are able to conclude that things can be body, mind and Soul.
Indeed, this is exactly what we are. This awareness is created by the Soul, which acts as a linkage, or balancing point, between the two extremities. It is in the Soul that we conceive of both the body and the mind, and thus provide ourselves with the opportunity to Experience both and, in fact, all three. From the perspective of Ultimate Reality, however, even the triad of warm-tepid-cold does not exist. Ultimately, the triad of warm-tepid-cold is an expression of The One Thing called "Temperature." Similarly, before-now-after are simply limited expressions or perceptions of The One Thing called "Eternity." Likewise, body-mind-Soul are limited expressions or perceptions of The One Thing called Consciousness.
The most basic dyad of all Physical Life is Love and Fear. It is the prime factor. It is the "0" and the "1" of the Computer of Life. Somewhere in between Love and Fear is a mid-point, at which neither one nor the other is Experienced in any degree. This is the place of neutrality, or non-attachment, that is described by many masters. This is the middle-way of Buddha - being non-judgmental. This is the place from which both the known (object/matter/perception) and the knower (ego/mind/thought) are witnessed. Krishna in Bhagavad Geetha says, "Do not choose one against the other." It is a metaphysical place that exists in the Soul and not in physical reality. It is the balance point between the two, and it is in this place of perfect balance between the Positive and Negative aspects of the binary system of Physical Life where all masters reside. Whereas human masters reside in perfect serenity in the balance point of the binary system, Consciousness resides everywhere within the system. Indeed, Consciousness IS the System. A common man resides in action, a wise man resides in in-action and Consciousness resides in non-action which contains everything.
A man asked Gauthama Buddha, "I want happiness." Buddha said, "First remove 'I,' that's Ego, then remove, 'want,' that's desire. See now, you are left with only Happiness!"
Rumi: "The middle-path is the way to wisdom!
*******************
