ENLIGHTENMENT BY SELF-INQUIRY–pt123

Sri Vhagavan Ramana

[The Teaching  of Non-Duality has been adapted from Master Nome, disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi.  Sections appended below derive from Sri Ramana's Teaching.]

When we inquire "Who am I ?" we must see if there is someone else in "the picture" of your life. If we inquire, the Seer & the "picture" both vanish. What Form do you have ?  The World appears to have a Form. The Supreme is also assigned a Form. Perhaps it is a visualized form, or it may be a Form only abstractly conceived.  It is something regarded as "other" than the one undifferentiated Pure Existence. Anything “other” even to the slightest degree has some Form by which the differentiation is marked out. The World seems to have a Form.  Hence we call it a "World".  So long as the Individual self is thought to have a Form, God too seems to have some Form, however abstract that might be.

For any objective experience, mental or sensed, the connection with the Self, which is of the nature of pure Consciousness alone, is a product of Delusion. The "I" is truly always free of all attributes, unassociated with any quality or entity, & ever Non–Objective.  The Ignorance that imagines otherwise is purposeless.  That Ignorance merely creates Bondage in the midst of the Ever-Free, Suffering in the midst of Bliss, which is like drowning in a Mirage, the "waters" of which serve no purpose.  If the delusive attempts to connect the Self with what is not the Self are given up, the Mind rests in Brahman, the Absolute Self.  Such is "as if free from Bondage" for in Reality, That was never bound. The Self is ever Unborn & ever devoid of Duality.

[Ramana]

Seeing the World, the jnani sees the Self which is the substratum of all that is seen; the ajnani, whether he sees the World or not, is ignorant of his true Existence, the Self.  Take the example of moving pictures on the screen in the cinema-show.  What is there in front of you before the play begins ?  Merely the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, & for all appearances the pictures are real.  But go & try to take hold of them. What do you take hold of ?  Merely the screen on which the pictures appeared. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains ?  The screen again.

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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, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com