Nisargadatta on Consciousness

[Guest guest]

Below are my comments under Maharaj' s answers:

 

>Q: What then is in the center of consciousness?

 

>M: That which cannot be given name or form, for it is without

quality and beyond consciousness. You may say it is a point

> in consciousness. Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper

and yet not of paper, so is the supreme state in the very center

> of consciousness, and yet beyond consciousness. It is as if

there were an opening in the mind through which the mind

flooded with light. The opening is not even the light. It is just

> and opening.  

 

 

P: Those who place conciousness/awareness at the center

and who claim that all jnanies corroborate the above, should

read Maharaj's above words carefully. Awareness and

consciousness are one and the same despite the efforts of

those who want to live forever to split conceptual hairs.

 

The hole in the paper is a masterful metaphor! It's worth

pondering. The hole is in the paper, but not of the paper, it's

totally alien to it. Yet, at the very edge of the paper they shape

each other. The hole (emptiness, the void) is not only the hole

at the center, but it's all around the paper sheet giving it shape.

They reveal each other. So at the edge the edge of consciousness,

is where the absolute is revealed? It appears where content fades

at the edge. Go there to repose, rest, silence, where finite/infinite

merge and are lost from sight.

 

> Q: The fully realized man, spontaneously abiding in the supreme

> state, appears to eat, drink, and so on. Is he aware of it, or not?  

 

M: That in which consciousness happens, the universal

> consciousness or mind, we call the either of consciousness. All the

> objects of consciousness form the universe. What is beyond both,

supporting both, is the supreme state, a state of utter stillness and

> silence. Whoever goes there, disappears. It is unreachable by words,

or mind. You may call it God, or Parabrahman, or supreme Reality,

> but these are names given by the mind. It is the nameless,

contentless,

> effortless and spontaneous state, beyond being and not being.  

 

> Q: But does it remain conscious?

 

>M: As the universe is the body of the mind, so it consciousness

> the body of the supreme. It is not conscious, but it gives rise to

> consciousness.  

 

P: There, in the paragraph above, you have it. " IT'S NOT

CONSCIOUS, but IT gives rise to consciousness. Clearer it

can't be said.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/27/2005 9:08:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

pedsie4 writes:

 

>M: That which cannot be given name or form, for it is without

quality and beyond consciousness. You may say it is a point

> in consciousness. Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper

and yet not of paper, so is the supreme state in the very center

> of consciousness, and yet beyond consciousness. It is as if

there were an opening in the mind through which the mind

flooded with light. The opening is not even the light. It is just

> and opening.

 

 

P: Those who place conciousness/awareness at the center

and who claim that all jnanies corroborate the above, should

read Maharaj's above words carefully. Awareness and

consciousness are one and the same despite the efforts of

those who want to live forever to split conceptual hairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

M: As the universe is the body of the mind, so it consciousness

> the body of the supreme. It is not conscious, but it gives rise to

> consciousness.

 

P: There, in the paragraph above, you have it. " IT'S NOT

CONSCIOUS, but IT gives rise to consciousness. Clearer it

can't be said.

 

 

 

 

Pure, subjective awareness cannot be aware of itself, and there is nothing

outside of awareness of which to be aware. So, yes, awareness is not conscious

as such. Consciousness arises out of awareness. This doesn't mean that

consciousness is not awareness. It must be in order for it to arise from

awareness. But consciousness becomes the object to the subjective awareness.

Since

consciousness is not other than awareness, but only seems to be, awareness may

view itself from the perspective of consciousness. This is, in fact, what you

are doing now.

 

In order for consciousness to observe awareness, it must seemingly not

contain the entire 'contents' of awareness or it will lose it's ability to seem

to

be other than awareness and will dissolve back into awareness. Consciousness

defines itself through limitation, the boundaries of which make

creation/perception possible.

 

The flaw in your argument is that you assume that to be 'positioned' as

awareness is to no longer share in the consciousness of consciousness. You

continue to project your dualistic perception into the Totality of Awareness and

assume it is not something. (conscious). There is nothing that the totality of

All That Is.......isn't. All potentiality is contained within Awareness.

 

It is, therefore, you who 'split' Wholeness conceptually.

 

Phil