:Ignorance will not be eradicated except in those who, through the power of Self-Inquiry conducted assiduously within the heart, have attained the victorious absolute vision in which the whole panoply of manifestation is transcended, being seen as a mere Cinema show.
The infinite variety of false & treacherous modes of
existence are merely brightly colored images appearing as if in a Mirror. We must realize that the false &
treacherous identification of the “I” with the Body is the seed from which
these appearances arise to ensnare us, & we must reject it with disdain.
That which is spoken of as the Life of life itself is the
true Life; That other "life" is merely the Body. That illusory
knowledge mediated by the Senses is nothing but Delusion. The pure
Consciousness that underlies it alone is true consciousness.
We think we live in a real, materially substantial World,
& that our Minds & Bodies are real entities that move around in it.
When the Self is seen & known, all these false ideas fade away & one is
left with the Knowledge: Self alone exists.
There are Dream consequences for the bad acts committed in
the Dream, & while you still take the Dream to be the reality, you will
suffer the consequences of your bad behavior. Do no evil & have no hate.
Have equanimity towards everything.
Bad thoughts make bad Dreams & good thoughts make good
Dreams, & if you have no thoughts you don’t Dream at all.
Your real state is the Self, & in that Self there is no
Body & no Mind.
If it be true that objects as such are not perceived, then
one's own Body as such, being an object, is not perceived. One's Body is a notion, formed in the same
manner as the notion of any other object. The relation between the perceiver's
Body & foreign bodies entails the Sensations that gives rise to the notion
of an Object. These are nothing more than the Sense's Sensing. And because the Senses
cannot exist without the support of a Body, it follows that our notion of any
foreign Body, whether animate or inanimate, depends upon the notion of our own Body.
When, for instance, we examine the Notion of any particular
object, its Shape & Color are found to be inseparably connected with our Eyes.
The notion is inseparably connected to its Feel, Weight & Temperature with
our Skin, its Sound with our Ears, & so on.
Even to speak of its Sound, Color, or Feel is only a
concession to a prejudice. For, in the actual experience, we are conscious simply
of isolated Sensations. It is afterwards that we call them the attributes of an Object.
Moreover, it is our Body which provides the ultimate
standard of size & situation [big,
close, etc.]. We see that other people's bodies, like our own, are notions pertaining
to the particular state of mental activity which is at present being experienced.
The same conclusion has been reached by an analysis of Sensory
Perception. For the notion of a foreign Body
depends upon the Notion of our own Body, whether it be the Body of Waking or of
Dreaming experience. We shall now find
that the experience we attribute to others is also a Notion, in so far as its objectivity is concerned.
Common Sense relies upon the testimony of other living
beings, or of man-made adjuncts [media,
etc.] to the Sensory faculty, in order to prove the independent "existence"
of Objects. It takes for granted,
moreover, the independent existence of the living beings, or the mechanical
devices, upon whose testimony it relies. Against the commonsense view, in total
opposition, stands the metaphysical,
according to which the idea that objects exist independently of their being
perceived, whether they be animate or inanimate, is illusory.
Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple Master Nome:
One Self, oneself. If
this one Self is realized, all is perfect. Who realizes this one Self ? Oneself; of course. What is it that is
realized? One Self, which is oneself.
The Truth is that there is one Existence, pure unalloyed
Being, which is Non-Dual. It is indivisible & undifferentiated. If there is an absence of
Knowledge regarding it, if one is ignorant of it, that one Self appears as if a
multiplicity. Commencing with the notion, the barest assumption, of "I"
as a separate Individual, all diversity spreads forth. This is not a
real creation of diversity. It is only
an illusion due to lack of Knowledge of the Self,
In a verse that refers to the “Silence” of Dakshinamurti,
the primordial Sage & Guru, the Maharshi, says, “The One Self alone exists
eternally." That is the Truth, with no ignorance prevailing. That is what
is realized in Self-Knowledge, or Self-Realization, as we call it. If we think
in terms of multiplicity, or differentiation, all of such starts with the notion
of "I". In order to realize
the Truth in your own practice on a path of Knowledge & thus experience the
unalloyed Bliss & Peace of that one Self, what is necessary is to
thoroughly inquire. If you thoroughly inquire to realize what you are, you will
find that there is no separate Individuality, or Ego, & consequently, that
there is no differentiated assortment of beings, but just one Self. How does
one mark off the differences so that he can say, "I,"
"you," "he," "she," "it," &
"another'' ? This is done only by mis-identification
The purpose of Satsang is for you to have direct experience
& Knowledge, not only later when you meditate upon what you hear, but even
now as I am speaking. So, listen & meditate. Meditatively consider for
yourself how you mark off what you conceive as “yourself” & therefore, what
you think of as some "other." As long as there is a self, one among
many, there will be many surrounding that one. How do you mark off yourself
? Is it by misidentifying yourself as a
Body ? If you did liberate yourself from
the "I am the Body" notion, the misidentification with the Body, how
would you distinguish between “yourself” & an "other" ? How would the concept of an "other''
remain ? Absent the concept of
"other," how would the problems that arise between "your self'
& an "other" remain ?
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:
or with Caps-sensitive:
Duplicates have been available on:
jstiga.wordpress.com/
[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]
No comments:
Post a Comment