Guest guest Posted April 11, 2002 Report Share Posted April 11, 2002 Psychology and Metaphysics-4 The Sunyata and the Alaya Vinjnjaanam I find myself on a useful track in having noted that at the deepest level there is a NOTHINGNESS, a nudity of all that the human mind tries to avoid by assuming various defensive maneuvers that result in the self identifications with various guises that lead to " I am a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhists Communist etc." or the denial of this in terms of the negations " I am NOT this and that", perhaps the neti neti of the Upanishads. But in having accessed this layer of consciousness then I am immediately reminded of Nagarjuna's momentous discovery of essentially this NOTHINGNESS about two thousand years ago and which he called "Sunyata, a word the root of which is Ta. cuun, cuur, cuul ( < Sumerian sul, sun etc.) and which literally means a pure Brightness, a Radiance and which has been rendered in many other descriptive terms as well. It has come to mean NOTHINGNESS only because when consciousness is formed of this Sunyam, the Pure Brilliance ( > Brahman?), no object stands along with it except for this inner brilliance. The witnessing of this Sunyam has the capacity to wipe out every thing that is finite and conditioning thereby PURIFYING the mind freeing it or physical and meatphysical identities. We also notice that this UNDERSTANDING that I am articulating here is NOT possible for the average and nonaverage persons. These people are LOCKED UP in their little worlds, the average into the the cloistered Psychological Space and the nonaverage into his ideologies, cults , religions, gurus, scriptures , model heroes, rituals and what not making them at times megalomaniac and demonic. Types of Consciousness and Intentionalities. So just by reflecting back on the little clarity we have attained, we can see that not only there is linkage between INTENTIONALITY and consciousness but also a hierarchical structure permeating through them. The average person is locked up in his worldly pursuits so that his INTERESTS are about earthly existence material happiness economic acquisitiveness political power and so forth. Collectively his consciousness is bounded by these intentionalities, the realms outside being NOT AVAILABLE for awareness. Such realms remain CONCEALED and hence beyond his reach. There is a kind BLINDNESS in such people but about which they are blissfully unaware ( till a crisis strikes them) The nonaverage, as we have seen, is one who has extricated himself from this BLINDNESS so that there is a kind of awareness, very dim perhaps, of this possibility of NOTHINGNESS, a state of Being in the world that is almost being dead! But among these there are some mystics, who are calm and bravely face this NOTHINGNESS, this Sunyam and accommodate themselves to it and because of which there comes prevail an inner Calmness . But then we notice that this is possible only if the person has seen the whole range or almost the whole range of intentionalities that condition the existence of the average and the nonaverage. Such a person has to become METAPHYSICAL, one who penetrates behind the guises symbols rituals of the nonaverage and see the vast range of possibilities for intentionalities, interests, consciousness and praxis. Such a person within the average fearlessly braves the DEPTHS and gains a vision of them. Perhaps this is what was meant by Alaya Vinjnjaanam where 'aalayam" is derived from Ta. aal : to spread out as in Ta. aalamaram, the Banyan Tree characterized by large and wide spreading branches. When the nonaverage person conquers his own metaphysical fear of the NOTHINGNESS, the Sunyam, ventures into the UNDERSTANDING of his own guises and that of others, he gains this aalaya vinjnjanaam, a consciousness of practically of all the intentionalities that configure unknown to the person his intentionalities and hence praxis. The Productive and Destructive Processes Let us hold onto these clarities we have attained, something any one can enjoy provided he puts aside all the mind cloistering identities and thus freeing himself ventures into his own depths. It is all there in the mind, with the understanding and therefore it is NOT necessary to quote authoritative texts or rishies or messiahs or prophets to substantiate them. It is simply becoming CLEAR or LEARNING about what is already there in the understanding. This becoming clear is attaining njaanam, where njanam means clear consciousness ( Ta. njaal: to shine forth) Now when we pause back on this that has happened to me and which has happened to so many in the world and continues to happen , then we begin to note the presence of PROCESSES , the productive and destructive ( or more precisely the disconstructive) underlying the dynamics of intentionalities, consciousness and they moving from the average to the nonaverage and then to the level of the mystical, the Alaya Vinjnjaanam . There must the PRODUCTIVE PROCESSES for they are there in the mind of all installing intentionalities, generating interests and consciousness and with that praxis of all kinds. And there must also the DISCONSTRUCTIVE for otherwise the MOVEMENT of UNDERSTANDING from the finite and cloistered to the larger ideological or ideational and the all accommodative Alaya Vinjnjaanam and so forth will not be possible. Thus I remain baffled. There are processes there in the world independent of me and which configure my intentionalities along which disconstructing them and ushering me into the wider and wider realms of consciousness i.e.. processes that make me LEARN , destroy the BLINDNESS that surrounds my understanding. There are processes already there in the world which not only bless me with possibilities for me to be but also make me CLING to them , attach myself as if I am that which is presented and make me BEHAVE accordingly. Then there are processes that disrupt destroy annihilate and hence disconstruct so that I am FREED of them. This also means that before that I was sustained in my Being in the world as thus -- as a Muslim, a Christian, an Agnostic, a Communist and what not. Thus our free inquiry has led us rediscover the Muttozil, the THREE basic processes already there and which the Hindus are fond of ascribing to the Mummuurties -- Brahma Vishnu and Rudra. These Gods lead the mind to the Aalaya Vinjnjaanam, the most comprehensive consciousness . But hold on -- now another disclosure: if the mind is led to Alaya Vinjnjaanam and through these processes ( forget the gods if you don't like them), behind the Sunyata there must be another DEEPER LAYER of processes that underly these three ! These are not simply the metaphysical but rather the meta-metaphysical, the absolutely transcendental. There must be another level of presenting -- allowing there to be the little intentionalities of ordinary life, the larger intentionalities of the metaphysical life that includes the all comprehensive Alaya Vinjnjaanam as well! And there must also be another level of Disconstruction -- that of withdrawing the whole world, the Maha PraLayam or Maha Sangkaram ! With this we come to the recognition of presence of Panca Kritiyas, the five fold UNIVERSAL PROCESSES that underly the dynamics of not only the existential struggles of the average and the nonaverage but the whole cosmos in which our existential dramas are enacted! The Saivites are fond of seeing this as the Dance of Siva, a vision that is possible for anyone who dares to explore one's own consciousness freely. It is there already only to discovered and appropriated. ======================================================= Dear friends! You are most welcome to visit the following websites I maintain: For World Saivism : http://ulagan.tripod.com/index.htm For Dravidian Philosophy: http://loga.tripod.com/tindex.htm For Agamic Psychology : http://ulagank.tripod.com/agapsyindex.htm For ArutkuRaL studies: http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/index.html For studies of Tamil Sacred scriptures in English: http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/tmcampus/tmc-open.html For SumeroTamil and related studies: http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/sumstudies/sumcampus.html ======================================================= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 hello, just a few simple words, your words nothingness and sunyata caught my eye/mind. what came to my thoughts was that the one who in his search for SELF and arrives at the level/ understanding where witnessing of sunyata/nothingness/zero is recognized then finally if the witness drops his interest in appearances of nothing and absorbs into his own SElf[witness turn back to thy self], then all is one, always the only real point is yourself as the unformed unexperienced SELF.the source, final reality, that which is ever steady! yours truly....jaya --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.344 / Virus Database: 191 - Release 2/04/2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 Dear Jaya, Thank-you -- very interesting observations I admit. I shall follow them up soon with the next insaltment. Your remarks makes me feel that I am writing something interesting to a quite a number of people. A friend in Yoga Psycholgy recalled the words of Aurobindo and which makes me curious about what Aurbindo has said about supermind etc. In akandabaratam I write a lot more. Those who are interested in coming to know the philosophical wisdom buried in the Tamil literature are most welcome to to the group ( blank email to <akandabaratam->) I shall also write to the Vedantins about matters that are of general philosophic interest. Loga JAYA wrote: > hello, just a few simple words, your words nothingness and sunyata caught my > eye/mind. what came to my thoughts was that the one who in his search for > SELF and arrives at the level/ understanding where witnessing of > sunyata/nothingness/zero is recognized then finally if the witness drops his > interest in appearances of nothing and absorbs into his own SElf[witness > turn back to > thy self], then all is one, always the only real point is yourself as the > unformed unexperienced SELF.the source, final reality, that which is ever > steady! > > yours truly....jaya > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.344 / Virus Database: 191 - Release 2/04/2002 > > > Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. > Advaitin List Archives available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ > To Post a message send an email to : advaitin > Messages Archived at: advaitin/messages > > > > Your use of is subject to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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