The experience of the Self #5

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>From No Mind I Am The Self.. David Godman

 

The experience of the Self #5

 

Swamy: In sound sleep the mind (the `I') enter into the Heart but it

remains in an ignorance of the Self, which cannot be described in

words. Just before waking, the mind, which is the `I' –thought rises

from the Heart to the brain in a split second through a passage

called the amrita nadi. Then the mind experiences the world through

the five senses and thinks that it is real.

 

In Self-realization, the pure mind, without thoughts and problems,

returns back to the Heart-cave through this same passage. As the mind

tries to pass through the narrow way, the Self pulls the mind towards

it and kills it.

 

After the death of the `I' the Self will remain, one without a

second; it is eternal peace and bliss. As there is no mind, there is

no world, no birth and no death. Just as ornaments are not apart from

the gold they are made of, even so, the world is not apart from the

Self. As the Self is all-pervading, it is beyond time, direction and

the three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping.

 

 

 

Editor: The knowledge that one has transcended the waking, dreaming

and sleeping states is on of the classic hallmarks of Self-

realization. This means that even while his body sleeps he maintains

full Self-consciousness.

 

 

 

Saradamma: I used to sleep a lot when I was young, but now I hardly

need any sleep at all. Three or four hours a night is usually enough

for me. Swamy is the same. Even when I sleep it is not the

unconscious experience that most people mean when they talk, about

sleep. If somebody asks me a question I can answer it while I am

still asleep. The Self never looses consciousness and it is always

aware of the three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping passing

before it, without being affected by them.

 

 

 

Editor: Saradamma had a brief experience of the Self on a number of

occasions before her final realization but she is rather skeptical of

devotees who claim to have had similar experiences.

 

 

 

More to follow in time.