Self Consciousness

[Guest guest]

>"nanda chandran" <vpcnk

>

>I've been meaning to write this for some time now, but didn't quite

>find the time to do it. Anyway here I'm.

.......

>I sincerely have no idea and am not prepared to blindly accept theories!

>I'll have to discover it by myself.

 

Nanda - beautiful - You have pictured perfectly the struggle of the

individual sole trying to get out of its self imposed shells of bondage.

You are absolutely right, one has to discover oneself by oneself with

oneself. - Uddharet aatmanaa aatmanam. There is no other way. Gods grace

descends on those who try to uplift themselves!

 

>The point I'm trying to make is that we should not be carried away by

>conceptions of the Soul being the Eternal, Absolute etc. That may be in

>the state of Paramartha, but definitely in our state of Vyavahara, it's

>but the normal common place "I".

 

Yes, neither we should get carried away with notions of vyavahaara as real

even though it may sound normal, it may not be natural either! Normal

could be established by our habits too. But habits are not necessarily

natural. Habitually we take ourselves as we are body, mind and intellect,

but that may not be natural. Habits die hard and require constant

reeducation of the mind; not accepting what scripture says blindly but with

faith in the validity of the shaastraas to apply inwardly to discover the

truth that is indicated by scriptures. Every investigation requries a

working hypothesis. Shaastraas provide that, provided there is that faith.

Look at the life of Nisargadatta Maharaj. He had not studied any

shaastraas. But his faith in his teacher's words - you not this but you

are that which remains after negating everything - was sufficient.

>Maybe not, but you can just be - and it's being only Self-Conscious.

 

Fantastic! You are right on the button.

>Knowledge, eternity and absolute have to come naturally to us and should

>not be sought.

 

Exactly. As long as seeker is seeking, it automatically implies that

sought is not there where it is. Hence seeking is likely to fail. But

unfortunately one cannot but seek along as the mind is looking for it. Mind

cannot stop looking for it unless it is convinced that there is no need to

look for it. And that will not happen until the truth is discovered! -

Here is a catch 22 situation.

 

Faith in the teacher and shaatraas will help the mind to slowly stop

seeking and discover the self evident fact as the evident self.

 

That is the time, 'being' itself is 'knowing' and no more seeking.

 

Bhagavan Ramana's the very first sloka in the Sat Darshan is the eye-opener.

 

sat pratyaH kinni vihaaya santam

hRidyeshu chintaa rahito hR^idaapyaH|

katham smaraamaH tamameya mekam

tasya sR^iti tatra dR^iDaiva nishhTaa||

 

In essence, what he says is how can I think of the nature of the existence

which is the very heart of ones individual and which is the very core of

everything and free from all thoughts. All I can do is just 'be' firmly

established in its very essence. That is the natural state of oneself.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda

 

 

 

 

K. Sadananda

Code 6323

Naval Research Laboratory

Washington D.C. 20375

Voice (202)767-2117

Fax:(202)767-2623

[Guest guest]

Sadananda writes :

> Every investigation requries a working hypothesis. Shaastraas >provide

that, provided there is that faith.

 

I understand 'faith' better now. Not blind acceptance, but a reliable

guide on the journey.

 

When I said Brahman is but the common place "I", I ofcourse was

exaggerating. As Shankara says the Atman is the very essence of the

Jiva. It's the residue of the commonplace "I".

 

It's indeed fantastic. After all the reasoning and intellectualizing, to

realize that we're back at square one again, but with a new

understanding.

 

As the Buddha states : The Self is the lord of the self. Take refuge in

the Self. Abide in the Self.