ENLIGHTENMENT BY SELF-INQUIRY–pt133

[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.]

Self-Inquiry avoids the pitfall of one not looking at oneself.  It avoids the error of thinking this is an objective topic & an existence apart from oneself. What Form does that "self" have ?  If we say, "The Self is there," "God is there," "The World is there," or “The Universe is there," then what is the "there" ?  What actually exists ?  In the context of the forms of those things, by which we would differentiate them one from another, what is it that we see ?  What actually is there ?  To know that & thus to know what actually exists, we must cast away from the Knower whatever definition or form seems to be appended to him. The way is always inward & not outward.  Therefore, regarding the World, etc., Sri Ramana poses the question, "If the Self is formless, who is to see ?"

Delusion is the mistaking of oneself for all those "attributes" which are objective.  Such Delusion veils the Blissful experience of the Self.  One cannot have simultaneously the ideas, "I am this, I am like this, or I do" & the Knowledge of being the Self.  Therefore, one ought to inquire so that one becomes free of such ideas.  This involves the cessation of Mis-identification with the Body & the Mind.  Since Existence is not the Body or the Mind, one never does anything.  Similarly, Existence is never this or like this, but only Existence.  Ignorance makes one believe that the Mind, which is illumined by the Light of Consciousness, is the Self.  The Mind's apparent power of knowing is only Reflected Light.  It is like seeing Sunlight reflect off a shiny object & thinking that the light actually belongs to that object.

[Ramana]

Any amount of action can be performed, & performed quite well, by the Self-Realized jnani, without his identifying himself with it in any way or ever imagining that he is the doer.  Some power acts through his Body & uses his Body to get the work done.

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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