Since true Self-Knowledge is therefore the State in which our individual Consciousness, our Mind or Ego, is known to be a false appearance that never existed except in its own imagination, Sri Ramana often described it as the state of "egolessness", "loss of individuality", or "destruction of the Mind."
Another term that is commonly used, both in Buddhism & in advaita vēdānta, to describe this state of annihilation or extinction of our personal identity is nirvāṇa, a word that literally means "blown out" or "extinguished". This is the same state that most religions refer to as "liberation" or "salvation", because only in this state of true Self-Knowledge are we free or saved from the bondage of mistaking our self to be a separate individual, a Consciousness that is confined within the limits of a physical Body.
The sole Reality that exists & is known in this state of ego-less-ness, nirvāṇa or Salvation is our fundamental & essential Consciousness "I exist". Since it does not identify itself with any delimiting adjunct, our essential & pure Consciousness "I exist" is a single, undivided & unlimited whole, separate from which nothing can exist.
All the Diversity & Multiplicity that appears to exist so long as we identify our self with a physical Body, is known only by our Mind, which is merely a distorted & limited form of our original Consciousness "I exist". If this Consciousness "I exist" did not exist, nothing else could appear to exist. Therefore, our fundamental Consciousness "I exist" is the Source & Origin of all Knowledge – the one Basis of all that appears to exist.
Our essential Consciousness "I am" is thus the Ultimate Reality, the original Source from which everything arises, & the final Destination towards which all religions & spiritual traditions seek to lead us. Most religions call this fundamental Reality "God" or the "Supreme Being", or else they refer to it in a more abstract manner as the true State of Existence Existence
In his True Form, his Essential Nature, God is not something or some person who exists outside us or separate from us, but is the Spirit or Consciousness that exists within us as our own Essential Nature. God is the pure Consciousness "I exist", the true Form of Consciousness that is not limited by identifying itself with a physical Body or any other adjunct. But when we, who are that same pure Consciousness "I exist", identify our self with a physical Body, feeling "I am this Body, I am a person, an Individual confined within the limits of Time & Space," we become the Mind, a false & illusory form of Consciousness. Because we identify our self with adjuncts in this manner, we seemingly separate our self from the adjunct-less pure Consciousness "I exist", which is God.
By thus imagining our self to be an Individual separate from God, we violate his Unlimited Wholeness & Undivided Oneness. The inner aim of all religions & spiritual traditions is to free us from this illusory state in which we imagine that we are separate from God, the One Unlimited & Undivided Reality.
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:
jstiga.wordpress.com/
"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/
No comments:
Post a Comment