It-is-so Sutra
–
written by "Jai", an imaginary individual, and
fortunate student of "Nome", disciple of
Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi who
for all practical purposes was /
is
the Absolute Reality, Brahman,
appearing as a Tamil Sage.
The single Non-Dual Absolute
Reality, Brahman alone exists as Existence, infinitely conscious as
Consciousness, consisting of complete happiness as Bliss itself. Time, Space individuals / things are illusory.
From the perspective of the
apparent individual, "it will all work out" – as Enlightenment, Liberation, Self-Realization. Such may not seem easy or quick, but
spiritual practice will hasten the process that can last one or many
life-times, each a repeating "dream" with evolving destiny, with ups
and downs determined by self-made Karma.
Spiritual practice can take many forms, some blended, others simple, more
or less direct, more or less preliminary or "final". One role of a Realized Guru lies in guidance
in all this, while the seeker experiments with details – whatever works.
Again, from the perspective of
the apparent individual, simplifying one's life in accord with what is Good / Wise yields better spiritual growth
than themes that are Bad /
Foolish. Identifying with Ego – I, Mind, Body, in a World is
Foolish. Finding out, as direct
experience and conviction, "Who am I ?" is identical with Realization
that oneself, that all is Brahman alone.
On the spiritual path, the
Good can include the obvious moralities of
relieving suffering, and of not causing suffering. This can range from ordinary kindness and love
through more distributed group responsibilities like refraining from
exploitation, group greed, violence, war, any selfish unfairness, and not
supporting other creatures, the environment, and fragile climate. Be they illusory entities like ourselves, yet
all creatures deserve well-being. Besides
being opposed to the Good and thus the Wise, all such Bad hardens attachment to
and mis-identification with the false Ego, the source of all personal
suffering.
The ultimate Good, that is God
is, according to Ramana Maharshi, "as real as you are" and thus is
transcended only with loss of Ego mis-identification. Transitional terms like Meister Eckhart's
"God-head", the Buddha-Mind, Tao, and Brahman-with-characteristics
are even less dualistic. Ultimately, all
definitions, all that is objective is to be transcended. Some traditions begin with surrender of the
Ego to and devotional love toward God, and some combine such with Non-Dual
Self-Inquiry until the very last. Devotion likewise arises toward the Guru along
with faith in his/her teachings.
Self-Knowledge by fathoming the
Self-Inquiry "Who am I ?" completes true self-identification with the
one true Self, Atman, non-different from Reality, Brahman – undifferentiated, formless, pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss – ever the case in a timeless,
spaceless, dimensionless Absolute Reality.
One analogy to compare the
levels of illusory mis-identification, as in the hierarchy: Ego, Mind, Body, and World could be an arithmetic analogy. A full "100%" dis-identification
from Ego individuality could be equivalent to "100%" Liberation / Enlightenment. By a roughly linear proportion, some 50% of
the one could be 50% of the other. A
similar arithmetic analogy applied to mis-identification with Mind might
commence with a rating of constituent Thoughts according to just how
"binding" they are. Such include
the "Bad" as described in commandments, "deadly sins", and
comparable schemes in Buddhism and other traditions. On sequence of decreasingly binding Concepts
could be Ego > Mind > Body > World. Removing key
Concepts carries more weight, marks greater progress than less significant
ones. Less fundamental
mis-identifications could be gender, ethnic – national, and political identity, age, "race" >
socio-economic status and possessions >
historical era, an so on. Less
weight accrues to less fundamental Concepts. Targeting the more binding ones
like Ego, Mind, and Body is "Wise" but all opportunities to lose
binding Concepts is well-advised in that such progress weakens their support of
more binding Concepts and all binding Concepts represent the one and only cause
of true Suffering. The Buddha enumerated
categories of Suffering (not simply pain
as such) as getting what you don't want, not getting what you want, and even
getting what you want because we sense that desired things are in Time and do
not last.
Ego-loss is the ultimate goal
of Self-Inquiry, but dis-identification with the Mind / Body is almost a proximate guarantee. This dis-identification
with Body represents a tipping point toward total inevitable Liberation. Some
do not attain dis-identification with the World prior to dis-identification
with the Body, but the World too must be relinquished. The terms of all of this
analogy may not be found in the all records of spiritual progress, and even
some of this essay's analytical –
philosophical approach may not mark the spiritual practice of many or most on
the spiritual path.
Beyond God, seeking the
"un-qualified" Brahman "with-out characteristics" is the
meaning of India's Advaita Vedanta.
Some traditions, included or even began exclusively with a
"qualified" Brahman "with characteristics" or God, the
Creator. Ramana taught on multiple levels for multiple audiences. When asked
whether God is real, Ramana would say:
"as real as you." In the prior
millennium, Ramana Maharshi supported the practice of Surrender and Devotion to
God, but most notably held Advaita Vedanta's Self-Inquiry to be the necessary
"final practice". The same
could be said of Sri Shankara in the even prior millennium. Following one's
strengths and the Guru's guidance serve to delineates the structure of one's
meditation practice. Such is Wise. That broad scope and the Guru's exceeding
Karmic bliss often mark such a "world teacher." Regardless of an
apparently less blissful Karma, however, every Liberated disciple is identical
with the Guru, with Brahman. In part,
the highest teachings were initially left as "secret" until
the listener was prepared to take it in with a fresh newness. On the other hand, so-called "western
vedanta" is sometimes a premature prattling of verbal assertions
"before" the listener is capable, or sufficiently unburdened from
concepts. It might also be noted that
the historically-absent "Jesus" may have "actually" (within
the limits of the waking-dream) been Apollonius of Tyana. Aside from the New
Testament's partially faithful rendition, virtually all of his teachings were
burned at the ancient Library of Alexandria, along with those of his own
inspirations that include probable sages like Parmenides, Pythogorus, and
Hermes Trismagistus. Yet still we are
blessed with "you and I are One," "overcome the World" and
so on. Even the Old Testament has those
few proclamations like "I am Existence (that I am) and "Be still and
know that Existence (I am) is God."
In between,
"qualified" Brahman "with characteristics" and
"un-qualified" Non-Dual Brahman "with-out characteristics",
some addressed a less anthropomorphic God such as Meister Eckhart's
"God-head" or the Tao of Lao Tse. Some dozen major cultures have
supported Enlightenment practice through the ages but the majority of current
examples now appears in Westernized and other societies inspired by Indian
Vedanta, and to a less common extent:
Southern Chinese Ch'an Buddhism though such flourished in the past, with the
expect changes in terminology. Furthermore,
the ancient promise is that no spiritual progress is ever lost. Running out of time this lifetime–dream leads to commencing again in a
future lifetime–dream, or illusory reincarnation.
Some centuries ago, the
Anglican bishop George Berkeley followed the lead of Rene Descartes and
reasoned that the World could never be directly known. At best we experience those thoughts known as
Sense Percepts and other thoughts about these.
It is unclear, however, whether Berkeley saw his Body and indeed very Individuality as based in
Sense Percepts. Nagarjuna, founder of
Madhyamaka Buddhism did seem to complete that conclusion. One helpful strategy toward
dis-identification with the World and Sense Percepts could be the examination
of the Subject–Object in terms of
"reference". To this some
rare-to-find attention can be given here as a Contemplation supportive of more
direct Meditation and ultimately dis-identification with the tipping-point of
the Body concept, as well as Senses and the World. To overcome the conceptual "log–jam" of Time, Space, and an
external World.
We can return again to Rene
Descartes and his two dimensional (2–D)
"graph". A simpler starting
point could be that integer/positive
xy valued graph we call a
"map". In fact Descartes'
Graph derived from Greek longitude "verticals" and latitude
"horizontals" and the fishing net grids before that.
We imagine W-E horizontal
streets crossed in a rectangular array by S-N vertical avenues, with (0th Av, 0th
St) a
starting intersection point in the lower left corner (somewhat like Manhattan, NY, NY). Coursing
along 0th Av to the East,
we successively pass (0th
Av, 1st St), (0th
Av, 2nd St), and so on.
Coursing along 0th
St to the
North, we successively pass (1st
Av, 0th St), (2nd
Av, 0th St), and so on.
Consider then a slightly further out point (2nd Av, 3rd
St).
Without additional geographical knowledge, we do not yet know where (2nd Av, 3rd
St)
is.
But should we assume geographical
knowledge for (0th Av, 0th
St) or simply
(0,0) on an xy Graph, then in or by
"reference" to that standard (0,0) "origin" we can claim to
know where (2nd Av, 3rd
St) or (2,3)
seems to be. Given a location for the
(0,0) Origin, we simply extrapolate 2 street blocks East along 0th St; and then in our
imagination continue 3 avenue blocks North along 3rd St to our mental destination (2, 3) with borrowed
"reference" with respect to the (0,0) Origin. In an analogous manner,
of the Origin, (0,0) where like our primal Ego-notion "I", then a
thought Concept or Percept would take on borrowed meaning with
"respect" to that Ego Origin (0,0).
But then again, our information about (2,3) is only, at most, as valid
as the Ego Origin (0,0) itself.
The point of this scenario is
to display the "borrowed" reality of (2,3) by a "reference"
assumption. So it is for all Concepts
and Percepts regarding the World and so on, all resting on the validity of the
dualistic Reference process subsequent to unfounded assumption of real "knowledge"
about the primal Ego-notion "I" Origin. Without the arithmetic or the Vedanta-like
terminology, Berkeley and Nagarjuna came to a similar conclusion that Concepts
and Percepts, and thus the World and the Mind, have no self-established
reality, while the Ego-notion "I" Origin is assumed with no support,
even though it seems "strengthened" by the Concepts arising from it. Thus, no basis for a World, or an Ego is
found.
If I view a "chair"
for instance, I assume a 3-D object with a specific form. But each view or image of that chair is taken
from a specific direction and distance, and further qualified, all only for an
instant, that is: by momentary
information of the viewer Percept. If
asked to imagine a chair, that Ego–"I"
Origin might visualize some slightly aerial view, perhaps from on side or the
other. These instantaneous Percepts or
Concepts do not a real Object make, do not a real World see. Every moment furnishes the Seer with another
View, (an likewise with the other Sense and the Mind), every Seer views only
his own World images. All these are
Contemplations but they support Meditations and then Realizations, especially
regarding the unreal World. The Body consists of World-stuff, matter, and that
Body is the Origin Reference for much of the Mind functions, and for the Ego
which in turn is a reference, notably for binding Concepts. Questioning "Who am I ?" (not mere
repletion but deep subjective fathoming) yields Liberation from the idea that
there ever is an Ego–Individual.
