If we truly understand that we are not a Body, nor the Mind which imagines itself to be a Body, & that every form of un–happiness that we experience is caused only by our mistaken Identification with a Body, we will endeavor to destroy that false Identification by undertaking practical research to discover who or what we really are. To know what we really are, we must cease attending to any other things, & must attend instead to our self, the Consciousness that knows those other things.
When we attend to things other than "I", our attention is a "thought" or activity of the Mind. But when we attend to our essential Consciousness "I", our attention ceases to be an activity or "thought", & instead becomes mere Existence. We know other things by an act of knowing, but we know our self not by an act of knowing but by merely Existence our self. Therefore, when we attend to the innermost core of our Existence – that is, to our essential & real Self, which is simple thought-free Non-Dual, Self-Conscious Existence – we cease to rise as the incessantly active Mind & instead remain merely as our naturally action-less Consciousness of Existence.
Therefore Self-Attention is Self–Abidance, the state of mere Existence as what we really are.
So long as we attend to things other than our self, our Mind is active, & its activity clouds & obscures our natural clarity of Self-Consciousness. But when we try to attend to our self, the activity of our Mind begins to subside, & thus the veil that obscures our natural Self-Consciousness begins to dissolve. The more keenly & intensely we focus our attention upon our basic Consciousness "I", the more our Mind will subside, until finally it disappears in the clear light of true Self-Knowledge.
The theory of this Knowledge of Self-Knowledge is necessary & helpful to us insofar as it
enables us to understand not only the imperative need for us to know the Reality, but also the practical means by which we can achieve such Knowledge.
All the un–happiness, discontent & Suffering that we experience in our Life is caused only by our Ignorance or confused knowledge of who or what we really are. So long as we limit our self by identifying a Body as "I", we will feel desire for whatever we think is necessary for our survival in that Body, & for whatever we think will make our Life in that Body more comfortable & pleasant. Likewise we will feel fear & dislike of whatever we think threatens our survival in that Body, & of whatever we think will make our Life in it less comfortable or pleasant. When we do not get whatever we desire or like, & when we cannot avoid whatever we fear or dislike, we feel unhappy, discontented or miserable.
Thus un–happiness or Suffering is the inevitable result of desire & fear, or likes & dislikes. Desire & fear, & likes & dislikes, are the inevitable result of identifying a Body as "I". And identifying a Body as "I" results from our lack of clear knowledge of our Real Nature – our essential Self-Conscious Existence. Therefore if we want to be free of all forms of Suffering & un–happiness, we must free our self from our Ignorance or confused knowledge of what we really are.
In order to free our self from this confused knowledge, which makes us feel that we are a Body, we must attain a clear Knowledge of our Real Self. The only means by which we can attain such clear Self-Knowledge is to turn our attention away from our Body, our Mind & all other things, & to focus it keenly upon our own essential Self-Consciousness – our fundamental Consciousness of our own Existence, "I exist".
Thus the theory that underlies the Knowledge of Self-Knowledge enables us to understand that all we need do in order to experience perfect & unlimited Happiness is to attain true Self-Knowledge, & that the only means to attain true Self-Knowledge is to practice keen scrutinizing Self–Attention. Unless we know our self as we really are, we can never experience true & perfect Happiness, untainted by even the least un–happiness or dis–satisfaction. And unless we keenly attend to our essential Consciousness of our own mere Existence – our simple Non-Dual Self-Consciousness, "I exist" – we can never know our self as we really are.
The above themes & 2500 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
short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58 link directly to free E-book PDF files
Duplicate blogs available on:
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"There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth."
– the "no creation" school of Gaudapada Nome – Ajata Vada
for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see: www.ajatavada.com/
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