Ashatavakra, Illusions, etc.

[for a while, the following will preface all these blogs – so please skip over if seen before]

100 Billion

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

Ashtavakra Gita selections

1.2  –  To attain Liberation, turn away from experience of the Senses like poison.

1.6  –  Right & wrong, pleasure & pain, are modes of the Mind. They are not your concern. You independent of those modes, neither the Doer or Enjoyer [experiencer of pleasure or pain], nor do you reap Karma [consequence of actions], so you are always free.

1.7  –  You are the one Witness of all that is & always totally free. Your only Bondage is not knowing this.

1.8  –  The thought: “I am the Doer” is the bite of a poisonous snake.  Drink the antidote of knowing “I am NOT the Doer” & be happy.

1.9  –  Burn down the forest of Ignorance with the fire of the Knowledge: "I am Pure Consciousness" & be happy & free from sorrow.

1.10  –  You are unbounded Consciousness — Bliss, Supreme Bliss, in which the Universe appears like the Illusion of a Snake in a Rope, so be happy.

1.11  –  If you know your self to be free, you are free.  If you know your self to be bound, you are bound. It is like the sayings, “You are what you think” or “thinking makes it so.”

1.12 –  You are Self—the Solitary Witness, perfect, all-pervading, One. You are free, desireless, at Peace.  The Universe is but an Illusion within you.

1.13  –  Meditate on this: “I am Consciousness alone – Non-Duality itself.”  Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, that there is anything external or internal.

1.14  –  You have long been bound thinking: “I am a person.” Let the true Knowledge: “I am Consciousness alone” be the sword that frees you from Mis-identification.

1.18  –  That which has Form is not real.  Only the Formless is permanent.  Once this is known, you will not return to Illusion.

1.19 –  Just as a mirror exists both within & without the reflected image, the Supreme Self exists both within & without the Body.

2.4  –  Just as waves, foam, & bubbles are not different from water, so the Universe emanating from the Self is not different from the Self.

2.5  –  Look closely at cloth & see only threads.  Look closely at the World & see only the Self.

2.7  –  From Ignorance of the Self, the World is appears, just as from Ignorance about a Rope, it may appear to be a Snake.  In true vision, no Snake appears but only the Rope.  Likewise in true Knowledge no World appears but only the Self.

2.9  –  The Illusion of a Universe appears in me as Consciousness just as does "silver" [nacre] in a shell’s "mother-of-pearl", or a ""snake" in a "rope", or "water" in a "mirage".

2.10 – As an earthen pot returns to clay, a wave to water, a bracelet to gold, & so is the Universe resolved into Me as Consciousness.

2.15 – In Reality, Knowledge, the Knower, & what is to be Known do not exist.  I am the stainless Reality, the Self, in which they appear, only through Ignorance.

2.16 – Duality is the root of Suffering.  The only remedy is to realize that what is seen does not exist & that I am the one, stainless, blissful Reality which is Consciousness.

2.17 – I am pure Consciousness, without the attributes which are only imagined.  Continually reflecting on this, I "abide" in the Absolute beyond imagination.

2.18 – For me, neither bound nor free, there is neither Bondage nor Liberation.  Illusion has lost its basis & come to an end.  In my Self all things exist, though ultimately, they do not truly exist.

2.19 – Having seen for certain that the Universe & the Body are without form or substance I am revealed as Consciousness alone where Imagination has no place to hold on.

2.23 – On the limitless ocean of my Self, in the wind of Consciousness, there arise the myriad mind–waves of a World.

2.24 – In the limitless ocean of the Self, the wind of thought subsides & the great vessel of a World & its Individual captain both lie "ship-wrecked".

2.25 – Wondrous is it how in the limitless ocean of the Self, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, & then disappear according to their nature.

Given that the Asthavakra Gita is such a wealth of expedient, practical spiritual advice amidst transcendent proclamations, we might institute a first installment of  warnings found in certain Sanskrit terminology encountered in spiritual texts.  These are the "unreal" obstacles which are best addressed so long as they seem to be real.  A sample list [with simple rather than complete scholarly explanations] of some of the "obstacles" includes:

Antahkarana –  "internal organ" of perception the Mind: including Ahankara, Buddhi, Chitta, Manas

Bheda – difference

Buddhi – Antahkarana’s organ of intellect of discrimination & determination (mostly helpful)

Abhasa – projection

Abhimana – attachment

Adhasa –subjective positive illusion of individuality

Ajnana – not-knowledge, i-gnorance

Aropa – objective positive illusion of the world of objects

Avarana – veiling part of Avidya ignorance or Maya (God’s "ignorance")

Avidya – not-seeing, ignorance

Bandha – bondage

Chitta – Antahkarana’s organ of mental impressions, memory, feelings, emotion

Dosa – defect

Guna – binding “rope” or quality: Sattva, Rajas, Tamas

Kama –craving

Klesha – 5-fold vershion of the "7 deadly sins"

Manas – Antahkarana’s organ of will (sankalpa) & doubt (vikalpa), image forming mind, desire

Maya – cosmic Illusion

Moha – dense delusion

Pasa  – bondage

Rajas – restless Guna, fantasy projection & craving

Samsara – cycle of birth & death, re-incarnation, smaller cycle of non-spiritual life

Samskara – persistent tendencies, some from previous lives (serial waking state dreams)

Sankalpa – unquestioned assumption

Sattva – attachment to static order, but also harmony & balance, the best Guna

Tamas – dull Guna, attenuation of discriminative intensity

Upadhi – modification, what absolute Consciousness does NOT have

Vijnana – Buddhi

Vikalpa – doubt

Vikshepa – projecting part of Avidya ignorance Vivarta superimpose

Vritti – mental mode, wave, vibration, restless patterns of thought

[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 ]