"Plain Words" – 2

                                                                                            Nome, disciple of Sri Ramana

Getting back to the issue of counting, comparison can be loosely made to the old movie the "The Matrix".  One particular aspect of the movie is the high level of programming required to run the VR, Virtual Reality that allows such realistic interaction between the many Avatars, the program tokens representing the point of view of each person sharing in the experience of that Virtual Reality.  When person no.1 does x, person no.2 must be ready to react in a manner consistent with the chosen interaction x.  With many Avatars interacting with many others. all making a number of choices every second or so, the programming has to be very robust to cover all the possibilities.

The ancient sage, Sri Shankara offered as a simple analogy a large earthen vessel with a lamp inside.  Many holes were fashioned through the walls of the vessel so that the light would shine out in many places.  These many holes were to be analogous to the many points of view in Consciousness that seem to be the many Individuals. Yet only one Light, one Consciousness, illumines all. So too, the many computer Avatars in the movie VR are only newly constructed points of view within one master computer program that projects the highly interactive Virtual Reality.  In that Virtual Reality, the many Avatars are not really many Individuals. Nor is the particular computer Avatar, that one identifies as oneself, an Individual either.

So, are there actually many Avatars, are there actually many Individuals in the Waking state, or is there only one Consciousness ?  Furthermore, whether in a supposedly computer program within a movie or, or within the Waking State Dream, the number of enlightened, however few, and the unenlightened, however many, all total to Zero in terms of individuals, and to One in terms of Consciousness.  Computer Avatars and apparent Individuals are fleeting and insubstantial, ever-changing, impermanent, and truly unreal throughout the whole time or lifetime of their appearance.  What is program code ?  What is a Thought–constructed Waking Dream ?  All these are insubstantial, ever changing, appearances without substance.  Consciousness, also Existence – Bliss, is the only changeless, enduring, and truly substantial Reality.

To find and merge in the one self, God, is the sole purpose and meaning of apparent Life.  In the Eternity of the forever Un–born with no beginning in Time, and forever enduring in an Infinite future, each momentary, indefinable, insubstantial thought amounts to nothing.  All these nothings put together seem to constitute the periodic episodes of the Waking Dream life.  And yet the same Self is also aware of the succession of Dreams in sleep and the no–thought Peace of Deep Dreamless Sleep.  Spiritual practice then, to repeat, is to discover and merge in the true Self, God, the sole Non-Dual Reality.  Of the several traditions helpful in this endeavor, Ajata Vata Advaita Vedanta, No–Birth Non-Duality is the tradition represented here, a tradition old and vast in resources, perhaps the widest path to Liberation.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

"Plain Words"

                                                                                            young Ramana Maharshi

[Lapses in health have delayed blogging for some time.  Finally, with speech-to-text the authors own words become available.  Quotation again should be possible soon.]

One feels that one is a Person characterized by a particular Body experiencing some part of the World in the course of Time.  So to does a Dream character feel himself to be a person characterized by a particular Dream-Body experiencing some part of the Dream World in the course of Dream Time. The 2 impressions are not different in kind, but perhaps only in degree of vividness, seemingly consistent continuation, duration, and so on.  In fact both are the product of Thought projecting a Dream World, projecting a Waking World, and a person in each case experiencing that World. Thought is itself is an insubstantial ripple in the vast Infinite Ocean of Consciousness. That Consciousness which could be called God, or the Self when one has the deep feeling "I exist" – that "I" is the Self; and that Existence is also the Self, is God, is Supreme Consciousness.  To awaken from the Waking Dream into unlimited subjective Consciousness is called Enlightenment, Liberation, and is also known by a number of other terms.

As we continue with "Plain Words", the course out of the illusion of living in the Waking World as a Person will be charted.  Such is not new information, but has been known for thousands of years by a relatively few enlightened Sages.  However the numbers game between the small number of enlightened Sages and a large number of unenlightened persons is an unreal one, because there are no such persons. And numbers themselves, arithmetic itself, mathematics itself is a thought construct, not fundamental Reality.  So the numbers, the probabilities should not be considered overwhelming because they too are unreal. Among one of the first things to note is the objectivity of the Dream and the objectivity of the Waking State experience.  The Self, God, is purely subjective Consciousness and is the only not known by another.  Not known by another, the Self cannot be described, cannot be conceived of, for all of that is downstream in the objective direction of Mind.

To find the subjective sense of "I" and existence, to deeply experience "I exist" as Consciousness, is to begin the path of Awakening, is to proceed toward Enlightenment in order to enjoy Liberation.

Besides being Consciousness itself and Existence itself, God is said to be Happiness itself.  Happiness, the motivation of all effort, is all the motivation one needs to commence, complete, and enjoy the results of the path to Enlightenment.  The subjective Self–Inquiry as it has been called, centering around the sense of "I", "Who am I ?", "Where does this sense of "I" arise from ?", and "I exist" – this is the path.  That turning inward to subjective sense of "I exist", to answer the question "Who am I ?", "What am I ?". "Where does the sense of "I" arise from ? – this is to move entirely in the subjective direction, away from all the other that is objective, this is to practice.  The practice begins in periods of meditation and spills over into being the background of all other thought and all activity; and finally becomes the entire experience.

Beginning with the next addition of "Plain Words" we draw from ancient & modern Wisdom is hallowed words & words anew.  But inner experience – not words – constitutes the Path.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]