To be

[Guest guest]

Regarding Harsha's question as to who's "trying to be", when we the

eternal Self, I can only say that when even Buddha and Shankara could

come out with only ambiguous answers, what hope is there for me to come

out with a logically consistent answer?

 

It's for all practical purposes to be taken as prAkriti working itself

out. By prAkriti I mean both the body and the mental apparatus (mind,

ego, intellect etc). You are the Self. Try to remain in yourself.

Invariably the mind will wander. The body will react. The Ego will

surface. But as the sages say, by practicing hard the three virtues of

control, compassion and charity, one can just "be".

 

If you think you cannot identify yourself as anything apart from the

mind, intellect or ego, it's just because you have not tried. Ultimately

the knower, who is nothing but you, cannot be known. But the mental

apparatuses can be known by practicing earnest Self Enquiry. Try to know

yourself. When you have a good grasp of yourself, then the process of

letting go of what's not you - the habit to think, to pride, to feel, to

will, to be conscious of empirical objects etc - begins. There's no

trying here. You will just be. The prAkriti (mind etc) will eventually

gain control of your attention. When you're aware of this, again you

just be. Again the prAkriti will dominate. Again gather your

consciousness in yourself and just be. This will go on until you can

dominate and finally submerge the prAkriti into yourself.

 

I remember when practicing this, I'd two points of my "I" feeling - in

my head and in my heart. On questioning a monk as to where I should

concentrate, he pointed to the heart. But he also told me that even if I

held on to the "I" feeling in my head, it will eventually submerge with

the "I" in the heart. Pointing to the head he said, "there is nothing

there!". He was an Advaitin.

 

The "I" feeling in the head that I'm referring to is our Ego or

Consciouness. It's with respect to this Ego that all the other mental

apparatus - the mind, intellect etc - function. If you let go of this,

you'll descend into the heart, which is nothing but you - beyond all

intellectual conception and non dual (in the sense that you and what you

are seeking for, are but One).

 

As GaudapAda says in his salutation to the Buddha or NArAyana (again in

Advaitam it doesn't matter, since both are but YOU in the ultimate

sense) :

 

I bow down to the One who is the chief among all persons, who's known

fully the Souls resembling the infinite sky through his knowledge that

is comparable to space and is non-different from the object of

knowledge.