1.
It’s Pike’s Peak or Bust. Do not take the Donner Pass.
I imagine Shankaracharya as an eighth-century Sheldon Cooper.
Saguna Brahman is Brahman from Maya’s point of view.
2.
Twenty years of nonduality and all I got was this invisible t-shirt.
In a perfect world, mind gathers, intelligence reports, and intuition acts.
Awareness being self-aware happens on the field of Maya.
3.
First, attention minus thought equals parabrahman.
Murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur.
Feel the radioactivity of mad divine grace from that great big satguru in the sky!
Divine grace is part electric socket and part lightning and thunder.
Before the turn is strictly karmic. After the turn is all about divine grace.
Why has no vlogger done a thorough travelog on oku no hosomichi?
I followed his footsteps in hiraizumi, matsushima, and yamadera. I would love to see all that went on north of the shirakawa barrier.
Hiraizumi
(tr-stryk)
Summer grasses
All that remains
Of soldiers’ dreams
Yamadera
(tr-matsuobashohaikublog)
Ah, the Quiet, but piercing the Rocks — the Cry of the Cicada
Matsushima
Matsushima ya
Aa matsushima ya
Matsushima ya
(beginningless ignorance) is like original sin
without the god-fearing gods.
In this reflection of consciousness in paradise
the mind naturally sides with itself
and all world breaks out.
All shall be well—
it’s just the self-reflexive play between awareness and self-awareness
where consciousness meets the road.
paraversical version
The concept of avidya (beginningless ignorance) is like original sin without the god-fearing gods.
In this reflection of consciousness in paradise, the mind naturally sides with itself. And all world breaks out.
All shall be well—it’s just the self-reflexive play between awareness and self-awareness where consciousness meets the road.
1. looney nonduality
Transcending space-time is Brahman.
Transcending me is Atman.
Atman is Brahman.
That’s all folks
2. geological theology
the universe is the cause.
this universe is the result.
to any so-called individual
this looks like the grace of god.
3. witchery belief
Politics is the witchery of making
one side look universally.
Belief is like a leaf refusing to fall.
Holistic bliss infinity, oh my.
String theory is like a day in the park for Maya. How many dimensions would you like? Maya has ten thousand of them.
The Newtonian universe is what happens when the mind processes input from the senses, and the quantum universe when processing input from itself.
In the nondual universe, the mind is an appearance in consciousness-existence and therefore incapable of processing that which is greater than itself.
Intuitive nonknowing and effortless nondoing is how the mind receives the truth from consciousness-existence.
People identify with their minds.
There’s nothing wrong with this.
It’s a socially acceptable condition.
But the fact is the mind is
a beautiful dividing machine.
So taking sides is what people do.
The horrors of war begins at such an early age.
If having the stain of war upon your hands is fine,
stay the original course.
Otherwise, turn and inquire within.
If the mind appears in consciousness,
why don’t I identify with that?
With every such notion surrendered,
Atman brings you closer to the truth.
1. water
Like wells rising from the same water table
your consciousness and my consciousness are one consciousness.
Our atmans are brahman like waves are water too.
The universe itself is brahman
like reflections of clouds in a crystal clear lake is nothing but water.
2. baby jesus
Pots are clay and rings are gold and all reflections are appearing in one consciousness.
The false is always going faster miles an hour. One needs to stop to smell the truth.
Differentiate the false from flower. Don’t cut the baby Jesus in two.
3. atman headlines
Only love grows in a desert. Who lives on Mount Kailash? Consciousness reveals all!
Om Shiva.
Attention minus thought equals atman.
1. faith is fine
Realizing is not believing—the one who’s busy just believing is busy being dead.
Having faith is fine—like training wheels for contemplating if that faith is truthfully well-founded.
Either training wheels do their job or not. Either way, faith is just a temporary solution.
2. the good
In Sin City, things are bad or worse.
The good in Maya is not of Maya.
But Samsara can take you there.
3. veils and reveals
Maya veils and reveals.
The veiling is avidya.
Revelation is tattvamasi.
4. who
Going for a drive to clear your mind.
Sitting still and seeing through.
Who is carbon friendly?
5. I Am
Have faith in this Isvaraverse!
I Am is its collateral.
Satcitananda indeed.
6. is
Existence is the principle!
Consciousness is the ground!
Ananda is holistic bliss infinity!
7. natural
The natural is Maya.
The supernatural is effortless and intuitive.
Self-awareness is inevitable.
In the beginning was Maya. In fact, the very concept of a beginning is Maya’s first act.
Maya is how the world appears in the human mind. Birds and bees have their own kind of Maya.
Transcending Maya is Brahman. Maya is a childish figment of imagination superimposed on unadulterated Brahman.
Maya itself is beginningless. Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Maya may have no beginning but Maya has an end. In Maya, it’s called self-realization.
1. Potentiality of Māyā
“The term māyā applies to world-appearance in all its stages of development. It includes all diversities. The entire relative existence is the domain of māyā.
“The origin of the universe can be traced at best to Brahman associated with māyā in its potential state. Beyond māyā is the absolute Nondual Brahman without time, space, and causation.
“Māyā in its potential state is the beginning of the manifest universe, just as the seed is the beginning of the tree. It is the causal state in which all diversities remain latent. We cannot go beyond that.”
2. Beginninglessness of Māyā
“Absolute beginning of anything is illogical. Like the rotation of seed and sprout the universe revolves from the latent to the manifest state and from the manifest to the latent state. So māyā is beginningless (anādi).
“But though without beginning, it is not without end (ananta). It ends with the realization of the absolute Brahman, just as the snake disappears when the rope mistaken for it is found. Māyā has no existence apart from Brahman.”
3. Brahman with Maya
"Brahman associated with māyā is the origin, the support, and the goal of the universe. This is called Saguņa Brahman, who is immanent in the universe as the Supreme Self and acts as Iśvara, the Supreme Ruler, the dynamic God. He controls the universe from within.
"Iśvara with māyā as His power causes the projection, the Preservation, and the dissolution of the universe. In the development of the universe all transformations are in mayā, the source of all appearance; there is no change in Brahman, in Reality Itself.
"Any transition from the potential to the actual is a transformation (pariņāma) of māyā and an apparent modification (vivarta) of Brahman. But māyā in itself has no essence of being. So Brahman associated with maya, the principle of appearance, is the material as well as the efficient cause of the universe."
4. Isvara with Maya
Saguna Brahman, because of His association with the phenomenal world, is conditioned, so to speak. He is Self-aware. He knows Himself as the Master of māyā.
He is not Pure Consciousness, the same at every point of existence, like Nirguna (attributeless) Brahman. There is no distinction of substance and attribute in Nirguna Brahman, but Saguna Brahman is possessed of attributes (guņas).
As Iśvara He is the Personal God. The term Personal is used to indicate that He has attributes. It does not mean that He has a form like a human being. He possesses all excellences in the highest degree. He is the repository of all greatness and goodness. He is All-knowing, All-powerful, All-embracing.
~Satprakashananda
1. eye
Between belief in god and a scientific theory never to be proved is a hard place.
Pure existence is the soft spot. Enter here.
Consciousness is that eye of the eye.
2. between
Between Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman is Maya.
Between Saguna Brahman and Maya is avidya.
Between belief in god and a scientific theory never to be proved is a hard place.
3. next
First comes faith.
Next comes self-inquiry.
Disillusion follows.
4.
I am that pure consciousness
in which conditioned consciousness is
appearing.
1. spring sounds
I heard peepers in the wetlands yesterday.
Three weeks ago I thrilled at the trill of red-winged blackbirds.
But nothing will compare to the silent and infinite consciousness
in which spring sounds appear like pratibodha-viditam.
2. the song of nonduality
If there's any music being made these days like All You Need Is Love, godspeed.
Love is the song of nonduality in samsara's song machine.
3. things
Two saffron monks in a red civic:
they say ten thousand things appear in one consciousness every day;
do not objectify your self.
First, from an absolute point of view, there’s no creation nor creator. There’s only the one without a second, Brahman.
But from the point of view of people, there’s a personal god with whatever attributes their belief allows.
The sun appears to rise and set, move up and down with the seasons. But it doesn’t. It's a circle game. All Maya.
Yet as long as one pretends to be a person, one pretends there is a God. Mine is both the maker and the material: Isvaraverse.
2.
Our Isvara
Who pervades Isvaraverse
Hallowed be thy name
Individual consciousness
Naturally assumes
Universal consciousness
I Am is
Thy voice inside of me
1. a case of samsara
Your fear of success in samsara may be
an earnestness for realization in reality—
I could drink a case of my Self.
2. next level
Austerity is your next level of impersonality.
One man's Tapovan is
another woman's Death Valley.
3. 1
There are many paths.
Some amaze.
One is.
lion and tigers and bears
Serendipity
synchronicity
coincidence oh my.
take me to your guru
Respect the revelation.
The revelators are not aliens.
They speak from the space of the impersonal.
on the aitareya 313
All is compelled by Consciousness. Consciousness is the giver of the present.
The beginning and the end appear in the eye of Consciousness.
Consciousness is the bedrock of the universe. Consciousness is Brahman.
Sunlit moon, moonlit earth.
Consciousness lights up the mind
and the mind lights up the world.
Consciousness is the real self
and the Self is self-luminous.
I.
Bee maya, bird maya, people maya.
Maya is the power and the glory of this Isvaraverse
but people come with the additional fatal ingredients
of beginningless ignorance, collective conditioning, and big effing egos.
II.
If the way to nirvana is samsara, the way to self-realization is maya.
Maya gives and takes. Maya takes thy self via avidya
and Maya gives back that self-awareness by
the effortless, intuitive, and unconditional wisdom of the sages.
A.
You are not the person. You are the witness of the person. You're not a thought. You're the consciousness in which all thoughts appear. Attention minus thought equals the witness, pure consciousness, satcitananda.
B.
A person thinks it is the doer. The witness sees this doer being done. Such individual doing interferes with the universal being done resulting in a violent reaction called samsara. Surrender the false and get true.
C.
Effortless nondoing is the art of being done. Intuitive nonknowing is the heart of self-awareness. Unconditional nonloving is the buddha of compassion. Identifying with the witness is just a matter of time.
D.
Mind on and senses off is the dreaming state. Mind on and senses on is the waking state. Mind off and senses off is deep sleep. Consciousness witnesses the absence of duality and the presence of nonduality.
E.
I pledge myself to the Principle of Existence. I Am comes before I Am Not. Absolute awareness being self-aware is the Big Bang. Transcending the Big Bang is big. The Big is Brahman.
i.
Dreams appear in the mind. Mind appears in Isvaraverse. The Isvaraverse appears in pure consciousness.
As dreams are nothing but mindstuff, the Isvaraverse is nothing but Brahman.
As dream, mind rules. As Isvaraverse, Isvara rules. There are no rules in Brahman.
ii.
The mind is a tool of division. Without proper training, violence is its atmosphere. Samsara its name.
The Isvaraverse is a stunning manifestation of phenomenal causal beauty and singular divine truth.
Brahman transcends both karma and god in that nonduality of satcitananda.
3. This Isvaraverse
Isvaraverse is the universe as God. Call it string theory or the new age universe, Shiva or Vishnu. Even atheism has an Isvara.
Mind dreams, dreams clash, London calling. The waking state is just dreaming with the body on. Dreams appear in mind and are made of mind. Mind dissolves within Isvara.
This Isvaraverse is this being beyond dreaming—I am. Transcendending being is that supreme principle of being—Brahman.
4. Brahman
Isvara is Saguna Brahman. Nirguna Brahman is Brahman. Brahman is unperceived, unrelated, incomprehensible, uninferable, unthinkable, and indescribable. Whoever knows “it’s not that I don’t know but I know and do not know” knows that.
As far as I know, birth and death are concepts to me.
In my experience, people disappear and appear. I’ve never done either.
This kind of thinking is immortality now.
Consciousness is never unconscious. Spacetime appears in the timeless. That one in which ten thousand is appearing.
Whatever the weather, the sky is always the sky. White Mountain treeline. Acadian kensho. Mama don’t let your third eye calcify.
My three eyes are effortless nondoing, intuitive nonknowing, and unconditional nonloving.
1. Who rang the Big Bang
Do not ask who shot the sheriff. Ask instead who rang the Big Bang.
Lo it’s called the Big Bang because the Bang appears in the Big.
And the Big is just another name for Brahman.
By asking who am I, I find I’m not this Bang—
I'm that spaceless timeless Big in which spacetime is appearing.
2. Sea
The sea is not encompassed by the island—
what the sea is saying is the sea is not its surf.
The sea is not revealed by surf;
the sea reveals the surf.
See the sea is big and not the surfer.
1. Who wills the mind to land upon this phenomenal world? By what accord does the vital breath move in and out? By whose direction are these words now spoken? What intelligence unites these eyes and ears?
2. That is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the breath of the breath, the eye of the eye. Thus those wise discerning ones who free themselves from this world become immortal.
3. The eye does not go there, nor speech, nor mind. That is not an object of knowledge so we can’t teach that this way. For that is different from both the known and the unknown. Thus we have heard from our predecessors who taught that to us.
4. That which cannot be revealed by speech but by which speech is revealed: know that alone as Brahman and not this which people worship here.
I have included four translations of the cream of Kena Upanishad (1:1-5 & 2:1-5) here: Nikhilananda for its clarity; Chinmayananda for its detail; Easwaran for its currency; Dayananda for its articulation.
Nikhilananda:
One
1) THE DISCIPLE ASKED: Om. By whose will directed does the mind proceed to its object? At whose command does the prana, the foremost, do its duty? At whose will do men utter speech? Who is the god that directs the eyes and ears?
2) The teacher replied: It is the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind, the Speech of speech, the Life of life, and the Eye of the eye. Having detached the Self [from the sense-organs] and renounced the world, the wise attain to Immortality.
3-4) The eye does not go thither, nor speech, nor the mind. We do not know It; we do not understand how anyone can teach It. It is different from the known; It is above the unknown. Thus we have heard from the preceptors of old who taught It to us.
5) That which cannot be expressed by speech, but by which speech is expressed-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.
Two
1) THE TEACHER SAID: If you think: “I know Brahman well,” then surely you know but little of Its form; you know only Its form as conditioned by man or by the gods. Therefore Brahman, even now, is worthy of your inquiry. The disciple said: I think I know Brahman.
2) The disciple said: I do not think I know It well, nor do I think I do not know It. He among us who knows the meaning of “Neither do I not know, nor do I know”-knows Brahman.
3) He by whom Brahman is not known, knows It; he by whom It is known, knows It not. It is not known by those who know It; It is known by those who do not know It.
4) Brahman is known when It is realized in every state of mind; for by such Knowledge one attains Immortality. By Atman one obtains strength; by Knowledge, Immortality.
5) If a man knows Atman here, he then attains the true goal of life. If he does not know It here, a great destruction awaits him. Having realized the self in every being, the wise relinquish the world and become immortal.
Chinmayananda:
One
1) Disciple – By whom willed and directed does the mind light upon its objects? Commanded by whom does the main vital air (prāṇa) proceed to function? By whose will do the men utter speech? What intelligence directs the eyes and the ears (towards their respective objects)?
ॐ केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः। केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः। केनेषितां वाचमिमां वदन्ति चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति॥ १॥
om keneṣitaṁ patati preṣitaṁ manaḥ kena prāṇaḥ prathamaḥ praiti yuktaḥ, keneṣitāṁ vācamimāṁ vadanti cakṣuḥ śrotraṁ ka u devo yunakti.
ॐ – Om; केन – by whom; इषितं – willed; पतति – falls; प्रेषितं – directed (sent); मनः – mind; केन – by whom; प्राणः – the vital -air; प्रथमः – at first; प्रैति – does proceed (to function); युक्तः – well equipped; केन – by whom; इषितां – commanded; वाचम् – word (speech); इमां – this; वदन्ति – do (they, men) utter; चक्षुः – eye; श्रोत्रं – ear; कः – who; उ – indeed; देवः – divine power; युनक्ति – directs (towards their respective objects)
2) Preceptor – it is the ‘ear’ of the ear, the ‘mind’ of the mind, the ‘tongue’ of the tongue (‘speech’ of the speech) and also the ‘life’ of the life and the ‘eye’ of the eye. Having abandoned the sense of Self or ‘I’-ness in these and rising above sense life, the wise become immortal.
श्रोत्रस्य श्रोत्रं मनसो मनो यद्वाचो ह वाचं स उ प्राणस्य प्राणश्चक्षुषश्चक्षुरतिमुच्य धीराः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति॥२॥
śrotrasya śrotraṁ manaso mano yadvāco ha vācaṁ sa u prāṇasya prāṇaścakṣuṣaścakṣuratimucya dhīrāḥ pretyāsmāllokādamṛtā bhavanti.
श्रोत्रस्य – of the ear; श्रोत्रं – the ear; मनसः – of the mind; मनः – the mind; यद् वाचः – of that speech; ह वाचं – this is the speech; स उ – the very same He is; प्राणस्य – of the life; प्राणः – the life; चक्षुषः – of the eye; चक्षुः – the very eye; अतिमुच्य – having abandoned (having transcended); धीराः – the bravely wise; प्रेत्य – having gone away; अस्मान् लोकात् – from this world (of senses); अमृता – immortal; भवन्ति – become
3) The eye does not go there, nor speech, nor mind. We do not know That. We do not know how to instruct one about It. It is distinct from the known and above the unknown. We have heard it, so stated the preceptors who taught us That.
न तत्र चक्षुर्गच्छति न वाग्गच्छति नो मनो न विद्मो न विजानीमो यथैतदनुशिष्यादन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो अविदितादधि। इति शुश्रुम पूर्वेषां ये नस्तद्वयाचचक्षिरे॥३॥
na tatra cakṣur-gacchati na vāggacchati no mano na vidmo na vijānīmo yathaitadanuśiṣyād anyadeva tadviditādatho aviditādadhi, iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṁ ye nastadvyācacakṣire.
न – never; तत्र – there; चक्षुः – eye; गच्छति – goes; नः – nor; वाक् – speech; गच्छति – goes; न – never; मनो – the mind; न – never; विद्मः – do we know; न – never; विजानीमः – do we know perfectly; यथा एतद् – how it; अनुशिष्यात् – can be instructed; अन्यत् एव – very distinct; तद् – that is; विदितात् – from the known; अथ – then; अविदितात् – from the unknown; अधि – extremely (distinct); इति – thus; शुश्रुम – we have heard; पूर्वेषां – from the ancestors; ये – who; नः – to us; तद् – that; व्याचचक्षिरे – perfectly stated (taught us)
4) What speech cannot reveal, but what reveals speech, know That alone as Brahman and not this, that people worship here.
यद्वाचानभ्युदितं येन वागभ्युद्यते। तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते॥४॥
yadvācānabhyuditaṁ yena vāgabhyudyate, tadeva brahma tvaṁ viddhi nedaṁ yadidamupāsate.
यद् – that which (was); वाचा – by the speech; अनभ्युदितं – not revealed; येन – by which; वाक् – speech; अभ्युद्यते – is revealed (itself); तद् एव – That alone; ब्रह्म – Brahman; त्वं – thou; विद्धि – know; न इदं – not this; यत् – that; इदम् – this (there); उपासते – worships
Two
1) The preceptor here hastens to warn his disciple, ‘If you think, ‘I knew well’, it is certainly but little – the form of the Brahman you have known is also the form of the devas. Therefore, I think that what thou thinkest is still to be ascertained.’
यदि मन्यसे सुवेदेति1 दहरमेवापि नूनम्। त्वं वेत्थ ब्रह्मणो रुपं यदस्य त्वं यदस्य देवेष्वथ नु मीमास्यमेव ते मन्ये विदितम्॥१॥
yadi manyase suvedeti daharamevāpi nūnam, tvaṁ vettha brahmaṇo rupaṁ yadasya tvaṁ yadasya deveṣvatha nu mīmā☐syameva te manye viditam.
यदि – if; मन्यसे – you think; सुवेद – very well I know; इति – thus; दहरमेवापि – even a little too; नूनम् – certainly; त्वं – you; वेत्थ – understand; ब्रह्मणः – of the Brahman; रुपं – form; यत् – that which is; अस्य – of that; त्वं – Thou; यत् – That which; अस्य – of that; देवेषु – in the devas; अथ नु – now then; मीमास्यम् एव – is to be ascertained; ते – to you; मन्ये – I think; विदितम् – that which is known (to you)
2) I do not think that ‘I know it well.’ But not that I do not know; I know too. Who amongst us comprehends It both as the not known and as the known – He comprehends It.
नाहं4 मन्ये सुवेदेति नो न वेदेति वेद च। यो नस्तद्वेद तद्वेद नो न वेदेति वेद च॥२॥
nāhaṁ manye suvedeti no na vedeti veda ca, yo nastadveda tadveda no na vedeti veda ca.
न – never; अहं – I; मन्ये – think; सुवेद – (that) I know very well; इति – thus; नो न वेद – not that I do not know; इति – thus; वेद च – I know too; यः – (he) who; नः – amongst us; तत् – that; वेद – know; तद् वेद – knows that; नो न वेद – not that I do not know; इति – thus; वेद च – (he) too understands
3) He understands It who comprehends It not; and he understands It not, who feels he has comprehended It. It is the unknown to the Master of true Knowledge but to the ignorant It is the known.
यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः। अविज्ञातं विजानतां विज्ञातमविजानताम्॥३॥
yasyāmataṁ tasya mataṁ mataṁ yasya na veda saḥ, avijñātaṁ vijānatāṁ vijñātamavijānatām.
यस्य – he to whom; अमतं – there is no comprehension (about the Brahman); तस्य मतं – his comprehension is real; मतं – (the real) comprehension; यस्य – to whom; न – is not; वेद – knows; सः – he; अविज्ञातं – (it is) unknown; विजानतां – to the real masters of true Knowledge (to those who know perfectly well); विज्ञातम् – perfectly known; अविजानताम् – to those who know not
4) Indeed, he convincingly attains immortality, who intuits It in and through every modification of the mind. Through the Ᾱtman he obtains real strength, and through knowledge, immortality.
प्रतिबोधविदितं मतममृतत्वं हि विन्दते। आत्मना विन्दते वीर्यं विद्यया विन्दतेऽमृतम्॥४॥
pratibodhaviditaṁ matamamṛtatvaṁ hi vindate, ātmanā vindate vīryaṁ vidyayā vindate'mṛtam.
प्रतिबोधविदितं – that intuits It in and through every modification (of the mind); मतम् – the conviction; अमृतत्वं हि – indeed immortality; विन्दते – attains; आत्मना – through the Ᾱtman; विन्दते – attains; वीर्यं – real strength (vigour); विद्यया – through knowledge; विन्दते – attains; अमृतम् – immortality
5) If one knows (that Brahman) here, in this world, then the true end of all human aspirations is gained. If one knows not (That) here, great is the destruction. The wise, seeing the one Ᾱtman in all beings, rise from sense life and become immortal.
इह चेदवेदीदथ सत्यमस्ति न चेदिहावेदीन्महती विनष्टिः। भूतेषु भूतेषु विचित्य धीराः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति॥५॥ ॥ इति द्वितीय खण्डः॥
iha cedavedīdatha satyamasti na cedihāvedīnmahatī vinaṣṭiḥ, bhūteṣu bhūteṣu vicitya dhīrāḥ pretyāsmāllokādamṛtā bhavanti.
इह – here; चेद् अवेदीत् – if (one) knows (that Brahman); अथ – then; सत्यम् – the true fulfilment (the very essence of human aspiration); अस्ति – is (acquired); न चेत् – if not; इह – here; अवेदीत् – knows; महती – very great (is the); विनष्टिः – destruction; भूतेषु भूतेषु – in all beings; विचित्य – seeing clearly (the Ᾱtman); धीराः – the subtle intellects (men); प्रेत्य – having gone (risen); अस्मात् – from this; लोकात् – world (of senses); अमृताः – immortals; भवन्ति – become
Easwaran:
One
THE STUDENT 1 Who makes my mind think? Who fills my body with vitality? Who causes my tongue to speak? Who is that Invisible one who sees through my eyes And hears through my ears?
THE TEACHER 2 The Self is the ear of the ear, The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind, The word of words, and the life of life. Rising above the senses and the mind And renouncing separate existence, The wise realize the deathless Self.
3 Him our eyes cannot see, nor words express; He cannot be grasped even by the mind. We do not know, we cannot understand,
4 Because he is different from the known And he is different from the unknown. Thus have we heard from the illumined ones.
5 That which makes the tongue speak but cannot be Spoken by the tongue, know that as the Self. This Self is not someone other than you.
Two
THE TEACHER 1 If you think, “I know the Self,” you know not. All you can see is his external form. Continue, therefore, your meditation.
THE STUDENT 2 I do not think I know the Self, nor can I say I know him not. THE TEACHER There is only one way to know the Self, And that is to realize him yourself.
3 The ignorant think the Self can be known By the intellect, but the illumined Know he is beyond the duality Of the knower and the known.
4 The Self is realized in a higher state Of consciousness when you have broken through The wrong identification that you are The body, subject to birth and death. To be the Self is to go beyond death.
5 Realize the Self, the shining goal of life! If you do not, there is only darkness. See the Self in all, and go beyond death.
Dayananda:
One
1. om keneṣitaṁ patati preṣitaṁ manaḥ kena prāṇaḥ prathamaḥ praiti yuktaḥ, keneṣitāṁ vācamimāṁ vadanti cakṣuḥ śrotraṁ ka u devo yunakti
om – om; kena – by what; iṣitam – willed; patati – lands upon; preṣitam – prompted; manaḥ – the mind; kena – by what; prāṇaḥ – the vital air; prathamaḥ – the foremost; praiti – goes in and out; yuktaḥ – united with; kena – by what; iṣitām – willed; vācam – words; imām – these; vadanti – speak; cakṣuḥ – eye; śrotram – ear; kaḥ – which; u – indeed; devaḥ – effulgent being; yunakti – unites
Willed by whom or prompted in whose presence does the mind land upon its objects? United with whom does the breath go in and out? Willed by whom do (people) speak these words? Which effulgent being unites the eyes and ears (with its functions)?
2. śrotrasya śrotraṁ manaso mano yad vāco ha vācaṁ sa u prāṇasya prāṇaḥ, cakṣuṣaścakṣuratimucya dhīrāḥ pretyāsmāllokād amṛtā bhavanti.
śrotrasya – of the ear; śrotram – ear; manasaḥ– of the mind; manaḥ – mind; yat – which; vācaḥ – of the organ of speech; ha – indeed; vācam– organ of speech; saḥ – he; u – indeed; prāṇasya – of the breath; prāṇaḥ – the breath; cakṣuṣaḥ– of the eye; cakṣuḥ – eye; atimucya – freeing themselves; dhīrāḥ – the discriminative people; pretya – after leaving; asmāt – from this; lokāt – world; amṛtāḥ – immortal; bhavanti – become
It is indeed the self that is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the breath of the breath and the eye of the eye. Those discriminative people, (who know the self), freeing themselves from this world (being free while living) are no more subject to death after leaving the body.
3. na tatra cakṣurgacchati na vāggacchati no mano na vidmo na vijānīmo yathaitad anuśiṣyād, anyadeva tadviditād atho aviditād adhi iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṁ ye nastad vyācacakṣire.
na – not; tatra – there; cakṣuḥ – eye; gacchati – goes; na – not; vāk – organ of speech; gacchati– goes; na u – not indeed; manaḥ – mind; na – not; vidmaḥ – we know (Brahman) as an object; na – not; vijānīmaḥ – we know; yathā – how; etad – this; anuśiṣyāt – would be taught; anyat – different; eva – only; tad – that; viditāt – from the known; atha u – also; aviditāt – from the unknown; adhi – different; iti – thus; śuśruma– we heard; pūrveṣām – of the predecessors; ye– who; naḥ– to us; tat – that; vyācacakṣire– expounded
Eyes have no access there. The organ of speech (also) does not reach there, nor does the mind. We do not recognise it as an object. We do not (therefore) know how to impart this knowledge (in any other way). It is indeed different from the known and also from the unknown. Thus, we have heard from (our) predecessors who expounded it to us.
4. yad vācānabhyuditaṁ yena vāg abhyudyate, tad eva brahma tvaṁ viddhi nedaṁ yad idam upāsate.
yat – that; vācā – by speech; anabhyuditam– not revealed; yena – by which; vāk – the speech; abhyudyate – is revealed; tad – that; eva –alone; brahma – Brahman; tvam – you; viddhi – know; na – not; idam – this; yat – which; idam – (as) ‘this’; upāsate – (people) worship
May you know that alone to be Brahman, which is not revealed by speech (but) by which speech is revealed, and not this that people worship (as an object).
Two
1. yadi manyase suvedeti daharam evāpi nūnaṁ tvaṁ vettha brahmaṇo rūpam, yad asya tvaṁ yad asya deveṣvatha nu mīmām̐syam eva te, manye viditam.
yadi – suppose; manyase – you think; suveda – I know very well; iti – thus; daharam – little; eva – only; api – then; nūnam – certainly; tvam – you; vettha – know; brahmaṇah – of Brahman; rūpam – nature; yad – which; asya – of this; tvam – you; yad – which; asya – of this; deveṣu – in the gods; atha – therefore; nu – definitely; mīmāṁsyam – to be inquired into; eva – only; te – by you; manye – I consider; viditam – known
(Teacher): If you think, “I know Brahman very well,” then, you know only very little of Brahman’s nature (that is expressed) in the human beings and in the gods. Therefore, Brahman is still to be inquired into by you. (Disciple): I consider (Brahman) is known.
2. nāhaṁ manye suvedeti no na vedeti veda ca, yo nastad veda tad veda no na vedeti veda ca.
na – not; aham – I; manye – consider; suveda – I know well; iti – thus; na u – not; na – not; veda – know; iti – thus; veda – I know; ca – also; yaḥ – who; naḥ – among us; tad – that; veda – knows; tad – that; veda – he knows; na u – not; na – not; veda – knows; iti – thus; veda – knows; ca – also
I do not consider, “I know (Brahman) well.” Nor do I not know. I know and I do not know as well. Among us, whoever understands that statement ‘It is not that I do not know. I know and I do not know as well,’ he knows that (Brahman).
3. yasyāmataṁ tasya mataṁ mataṁ yasya na veda saḥ, avijñātaṁ vijānatāṁ vijñātam avijānatām.
yasya – for whom; amatam – not an object of knowledge; tasya – for him; matam – known; matam – known; yasya – for whom; na – not; veda – knows; saḥ – he; avijñātam – not known; vijānatām – for those who know; vijñātam – known; avijānatām – for those who do not know
Brahman is known to him for whom it is not an object of knowledge. He does not know (Brahman) for whom it is known (as an object). For those who (really) know, it is not known (as an object). For those who do not know, it is known (as an object).
4. pratibodhaviditaṁ matam amṛtatvaṁ hi vindate, ātmanā vindate vīryaṁ vidyayā vindate’mṛtam.
pratibodha-viditam – known through every cognition; matam – known; amṛtatvam – immortality; hi – indeed; vindate – gains; ātmanā – by oneself; vindate – gains; vīryam – capacity; vidyayā – by knowledge; vindate – gains; amṛtam – immortality
Brahman is known through every cognition. One, indeed, gains immortality (from that cognition). One gains the capacity (to know) by oneself. (Thereafter) one gains immortality by knowledge.
5. iha ced avedīd atha satyam asti na ced ihāvedīnmahatī vinaṣṭiḥ, bhūteṣu bhūteṣu vicitya dhīrāḥ pretyāsmāllokād amṛtā bhavanti.
iha – here; cet – if; avedīt – one were to know; atha – then; satyam – truth; asti – is; ced – if; iha – here; na avedīt – one were not to know; mahatī – great; vinaṣṭiḥ – loss; bhūteṣu bhūteṣu – in every being; vicitya – knowing; dhīrāḥ – the wise people; pretya – leaving; asmāt – from this; lokāt – body/world; amṛtāḥ – immortal; bhavanti – become If one where to know here, then there is truth (in one’s life).
If one were not to know here, then there is great loss. Knowing this (truth) in every being, the wise people become immortal leaving from this body/world.
New Aumdada:
One
1. Who wills the mind to land upon this phenomenal world? By what accord does the vital breath move in and out? By whose direction are these words now spoken? What intelligence unites these eyes and ears?
2. That is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the breath of the breath, the eye of the eye. Thus those wise discerning ones who free themselves from this world become immortal.
3. The eye does not go there, nor speech, nor mind. That is not an object of knowledge so we can’t teach that this way. For that is different from both the known and the unknown. Thus we have heard from our predecessors who taught that to us.
4. That which cannot be revealed by speech but by which speech is revealed: know that alone as Brahman and not this which people worship here.
Consciousness minus thought equals pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is the sea of reality. And reflected consciousness is like a wave superimposed on the substrate of that sea.
Pure C is like freshwater and ordinary C is like the water welling up within each ice fishing hole in the land of ten thousand lakes. So you’ve got to ask yourself one question. Are you the water or an ice hole?
Consciousness is the font and body-mind is the fountain. Consciousness is that ground from which this spacetime is growing. Scientific consciousness is an open head and materialism is a closed one.
2. TOC-250303mn
Consciousness minus thought equals pure consciousness.
Are you the water or an ice hole?
Scientific consciousness is an open head and materialism is a closed one.
3. The Kena Quartet
Another mathematical translation of pratibodhaviditam is
attention minus thinking equals awareness.
Intuitive nonknowing is not about one stopping thought
as seeing through the thinking.
4. A Thinking Couplet
Seeing through thinking quiets thinking.
Seeing through quiet sees oneself.
5. God and Maya, Cause and Effect
God is another name for cause.
Maya is another name for effect.
God and Maya, cause and effect,
lightning and thunder,
self-awareness.
6. Self-awareness
God is another name for cause. Maya is another name for effect. God and Maya, cause and effect, lightning and thunder, self-awareness.
7. 20th Century Prophecy
The metaparadigm of modern materialism isn't scientific but merely theoretical.
Satcitananda was Oppenheimer's Trinity, thank God.
8. on intelligence
Artificial intelligence is an oxymoron.
All thought is artificial intelligence.
Real intelligence is intuitive.
Reality is not ironic.
9. my mantra is self-awareness
Consciousness-existence is space-time-less. But as space-time appears in consciousness-existence, space-time is not consciousness-existence-less. In fact, consciousness-existence pervades space-time as a mountain lake permeates the reflection of a mountain.
Scientific materialism appears in consciousness. To scientific materialism, consciousness is a problem. To scientific consciousness, materialism is a gateless gate to self-awareness.
Maya is the magic wand of God. God is the power of the universal in the mind of an individual. As the individual appears in this immense space of the universal Saguna Brahman, the universal appears in that infinite ground of the absolute Nirguna Brahman.
Every person has a God. I am-I know-I love is now mine. Look, atheists are just in-between Gods but don't know it. They’ve outgrown the old one but cannot know the new one until it introduces its self.
I Am is the effortless nondoing of the principle of existence. I Know is the intuitive nonknowing of bedrock consciousness. I Love is the unconditional affection of holistic-bliss-infinity. That Satcitananda am I.
table of contents
Consciousness-existence pervades spacetime as a mountain lake permeates the reflection of a mountain. To scientific consciousness, materialism is a gateless gate to self-awareness. God is the power of the universal in the mind of an individual. Every person has a God. That Satcitananda am I.
3a.
The big bang appears in consciousness, silly.
Without lightning, where would thunder be?
Maya never goes away. It's beginningless.
Maya is beginningless and avidya is original sin.
The bad news is it's not your fault.
3b.
The good news is effortless nondoing.
Consciousness is the delivery system of the dream state.
We are having ourselves an old-fashioned ice-out this winter.
God save the Gangotri Glacier.
Feel the trill of red-winged blackbirds.
The principle of existence is the substrate of life. This indescribable principle can't be described as existing or not existing. But because of this principle, all things exist.
Life is just a superimposition on this principle. Thus, every life story is but a mirage. But most people believe the story and aren’t even aware of the principle.
If this principle is called Brahman, then Brahmavidya is the knowledge. If ignorance is the condition of my conditioning, then that intelligence is its deconditioning.
As the principle of existence says I am, the ground of consciousness says I know. And the essence of holistic bliss infinity cries I love. I am, I know, I love is the real Holy Trinity.
All is vanity. The world is ego. They say the ego-less shall inherit immortality. For immortality is the secret treasure of a principled existence.
Keep an open head of pure consciousness in which thought forms appear like magical reflections in and of the Great Sea of Brahman.
That pure consciousness is that principle of existence and that essence of holistic bliss infinity and what I really am without any doubt.
I am Atman and Atman is Brahman and by the mathematical law of the transitive property let us now pronounce I am Brahman. And that is the nondual truth.
2. The Wisdom of Maya
If the principle of existence is manifesting as effortless nondoing, then the heart of awareness is manifesting as intuitive nonknowing.
You don't know me but I'm your brother and that fearless essence of holistic bliss infinity is manifesting as unconditional love.
Nondoing, nonknowing, and nonloving is the wisdom of Maya and the will of God.
3. The Mouth of Gaumukh
Nondoing is the melting of our holy Himalayan glacier like the mouth of Gaumukh where the very river of the Vedas is emerging from the maw of Krishna.
There is this tributary in the Himalayas called Kenopanisad where absolute truth is neither known nor not known but true knowing is intuitive nonknowing .
Parabrahman is the noumenon without conditions. God is the godhead with attributes people understand. Unconditional love is seeing through the conditions our conditioning is in.
Materialism is just as much a myth as any other faith. Objects appear in consciousness like dreams appear in mind.
Maya veils consciousness, projecting both a metaparadigm and dream world. I am neither the paradigm nor its dream but the consciousness in which both appear.
Whatever the belief, there is a world made from it and for it. Whether materialism disproves myth or myth transcends materialism is not the point.
Materialism creates its world as surely as any other myth does. I'm not a myth. I am Brahman.
2. the revelator
Deep sleep is the causal body.
From out of a causal body emerges the dream state of a subtle body.
From out of the subtle body emerges the phenomenal world of a sensible body.
Maya veils and projects but Maya too is the revelator.
Myth is beyond proof. The world cannot be transcended.
3. the beginning
In the beginning, the presence of nonduality witnesses the absence of duality.
Before the big bang of the breaking surf are the subtle waves of a dreaming sea.
Witnessing is where the superimposition meets the way.
4. clay pots
Awareness is an open head. Awareness is pure consciousness.
Objects appearing in pure consciousness are closer than you think.
Awareness is the clay and clay pots are the objects
appearing in consciousness. Even Atman is Brahman.
5. in the beginning
IN THE BEGINNING, THE PRESENCE OF NONDUALITY WITNESSES THE ABSENCE OF DUALITY
6. not a myth
I’m not a myth. I am Brahman. Myth is beyond proof. The world cannot be transcended. Witnessing is where the superimposition meets the way. Even Atman is Brahman.
Satcitananda are not attributes of Brahman. Brahman with attributes is God the Isvaraverse. Brahman without attributes is the Godhead. Satcitananda are not the Holy Trinity. Satcitananda is nondual. Satcitananda is the principle, ground, and essence of Brahman.
If you think of yourself as a person, you have a God whether you know it or not. People come with gods as matched sets. The God of the Church of Scientific Materialism is called the Grand Unified Theory. Although unobserved and unproven, it’s believed to be true.
The God of the People of the New Age is the Universe and the God of Advaita Vedanta is Isvara. Both are matters of faith. I am, I know, I love are its manifestations in primordial Maya. And the proof of the Godhead Nirguna Brahman is oneself.
2. Gods and Guts
Materialists of the western world, know thy God is GUT! And Maya is another name for the Theory of Everything. Look, consciousness is not a problem. Problems appear in consciousness.
3. The Power of Three
In Maya, nonduality is manifesting as the Power of Three. The Power of Three is Supreme Being, Absolute Awareness, and Unconditional Love. Reverse engineering the Power of Three reveals Satcitananda.
4. Three Eyes
It takes two ears to see through avidya. It takes three eyes to see through Maya. Seeing through avidya is the great awakening of our Buddha nature. Seeing through Maya is gone, gone beyond, transcendentally gone.
5. Faster Buttes
Peggy's Cove and fog is lifting like light is dawning on Marblehead. Grand Canyon and the sun is rising faster buttes an hour. What do space needles, golden gates, and rodeos drive?
Consciousness transcends the universal as Parabrahman transcends your highest deity.
Spacetime appears in consciousness as waves appear in oceans as reflections appear in lakes.
These thoughts appear in consciousness—the reflection of consciousness is nothing but consciousness.
As moonlight is nothing but sunlight, I am not conscious. I am consciousness.
Reflections in the water aren’t really the images portrayed. They are nothing but water.
Water, water, everywhere and not a drop is actually a thought.
Thoughts describe thoughts but consciousness is not a thought and that is indescribable.
Like the sea knows every inch of a coastline but the coastline knows only the waves.
In God's Maya is nondoing. And intuitive nonknowing. That's how consciousness is known.
& More Thoughts on Immortality
Consciousness is not a product of the brain as immortality will never be a product of scientific materialism.
Immortality means endless-time in materialistic medicine. In real medicine, immortality is timelessness.
And timelessness is to personal deconstruction as satcitananda is to as it is.
& Consciousness Is
All the world is consciousness. Every dream is the mind. Consciousness is not a dream.
Consciousness is existence. The mind is a dream. Consciousness is holistic bliss infinity.
Consciousness is smaller than a mustard seed and greater than the multiverse.
& One Is
One is beyond two but nonduality transcends two
in effortless nondoing, intuitive nonknowing, and unconditional nonloving.
The wisdom of maya equals the will of god equals our faith in a grand unified theory.
& Postcards
Timelessness in Canyon del Muerto 2006
The Immortality of Basho in Yamadera Temple 2007
St Francis and Our Labyrinth of the Gods 2008
Advaita is not a belief. At best, it’s an hypothesis for you to experientially prove or disprove. Pratibodha-viditam matam. Atman equals attention minus thought. Awareness is the witness and Atman is Brahman.
Some look to a grand unified theory. Some look to a god. Neither can be proved. That’s the Law of Maya. Reflections in the water of these castles in the sky may be mere dreams but the water is absolutely real.
Call it the grand unified theory or the new age universe, the great mysterious or god, basically it's absolute Satcitananda walking on the street where you and Maya live.
In Advaita, Isvara is name for all the names attributed to Brahman with attributes, from Brahma to Shiva, from Grand Unified Theory to God. Call this the Isvaraverse. Let us pray.
Isvaraverse, universe, quantum name for all the gods combined. I am, I know, I love. The principle of existence, the ground of consciousness, holistic bliss infinity.
Everything I recognize is in the past. There's no future without the past. Past and future appear in the omnipresent. Dreams are not void of existence. Existence is void of dreams.
1. For Brahmavidya and Self-realization
It’s the metaphysics of Advaita which makes it work for me. The foundational focus on existence (I am) and consciousness (I know), along with that holistic bliss infinity of ananda, as the nondual trinity of satcitananda, is genius.
And Maya! That magic wand of the Brahman-god-with-attributes creating this fantasy, this play, this dream, this grand illusion, merely an appearance in the nondual absolute like a movie on a movie screen.
I’m not in it for the moksha but for brahmavidya and self-realization: seeing through this beginningless ignorance to the truth of who I really am and stopping there—they say reality takes you in.
2. In Nonduality
Scientific materialism isn’t scientific. Scientific materialism is just as much a religion as the big three. Thus consciousness is a problem for the church of scientific materialism.
In Advaita, pure consciousness is the ground. Ordinary attention equals the substrate of pure consciousness plus the superimposition of thought: Brahma’s Equation.
3. I That Am
If Brahman without attributes, Nirguna Brahman, satcitananda, the nondual absolute, is timeless, infinite, and unchanging, then, by definition, spacetime is not.
It's not a matter of ghosts being real but people being ghosts. The idea of a person dies in deep sleep. Its resurrection is completely dependent on memory.
Beyond this conceptual superimposition is the the principle of existence, the ground of consciousness, and the essence of undefinability. I That am.
4. New Hampshire II
Loon Mountain / Waterville Valley / Pemigewasset Wilderness
Half Moon Lake / Blueberry Hill / Midnight Perseids
Rockingham Park Racetrack / Canobie Lake Untamed / America’s Stonehendge
1. on minds
The mind of an ant cannot know Brahman. Neither can the mind of a human being.
Minds know objects, conceptual or otherwise. Brahman is not an object, believe it or not.
Knowing Brahman is an intuitive non-knowing. It’s like knowing yourself but really.
2. on knowing
There is no reason for you to know yourself. But it does explain a lot.
Not knowing yourself hurts. Knowing yourself alleviates. That is all.
3. on satcitananda (ode to unconditional love)
I am the principle of existence. Life is meaningless without me.
I am the ground of pure consciousness. Worlds are living and dying in me.
I am that holistic bliss infinity into which unconditional love is born.
Because the mind is a product of original ignorance, ignorance is beyond its reach. The mind is like an island in the middle of the beginningless avidya sea.
The wise ones say forget about this original ignorance you can never know, and know the truth you can and do know. For ultimately it’s thee.
Atman is inner as all forms of thought appear to be inside you. Brahman is outer as all external forms of a phenomenal world appear to be out there.
Don’t overthink it one way or the other. Atman is Brahman. That ultimate realization removes all sides, the wise and nondual ones say.
1.
Being all that I can be is the nondual absolute self. Just do it!
This minus ignorance equals that minus maya. You know it!
Fire hurts and even kills me but it cannot burn my real self. Get real!
2.
To just do it is effortless nondoing.
That you know it is intuitive nonknowing; it's neither knowable nor unknowable.
Every day in every way is getting real.
3.
There are three kinds of ignorance but seven states of maya.
The seventh stage of every state depends upon the first stage of the next state.
This is the last stage of maya. Let's get really self-aware.
That I think I am an individual dissolves in I am Brahman. I am the all-knowing and ever-pervading Parabrahman
always witnessing the waking and sleeping dreamstates and even the deep sleep state like a movie screen.
The world of objects only manifests in the mind when the mind is manifestly dreaming, waking or sleeping.
In deep sleep, mind isn't manifest and this world has no existence. I witness deep sleep too. Duality has no existence. I am nondual.
Loving Isvara
In reality, there are no persons. So how is there a personal God?
The universal reflection of pure consciousness is to Maya as individual reflections of awareness are to ignorance.
This is what the sages say. But as long as you are acting like a person, love the God you’re with.
Atheists Are People Too
What if an atheist is a person in-between gods but doesn't know it?
Such avidya is of the same principle as the one behind this reflexive universe—
it’s a long strange trip from awareness to self-awareness.
My Meta Myth
Love the God you're with.
It's a long strange trip from awareness to self-awareness.
Your metaparadigm contains a god or goddess whether you like it or not.
Love the God you're with.
It's a long strange trip from awareness to self-awareness.
Your metaparadigm contains a god or goddess whether you like it or not.
What if an atheist is a person in-between gods but doesn't know it?
Such avidya is of the same principle as the one behind this reflexive universe—
it’s a long strange trip from awareness to self-awareness.
In reality, there are no persons. So how is there a personal God? The universal reflection of pure consciousness is to Maya as individual reflections of awareness are to ignorance. This is what the sages say. But as long as you are acting like a person, love the God you’re with.
Ātman-bliss confusion
Brahma-ātman is presented in the śāstra as ānanda. This one experiential word ‘ānanda’ is frequently a cause for confusion. The Taittirīyopaniṣad presents Brahman as satyam jñānam anantaṁ. These three words are equivalent to sat-cit and ānanda.
The meaning of the word ānanda is ananta, limitlessness. The word, ‘satya’ which is generally an attribute to a thing existent in time, is in apposition with the word ananta. Because of the qualifying word ananta, satya is released from the three-fold limitations of space, time and object-status.
At the same time, being the cause of everything, satya is the truth of everything that is dependent upon it. And satya is also jñāna, which as a word can mean knower or knowledge or even known. But with the word ananta, the limited meaning of jñāna is removed and jñāna, the invariable consciousness presence in all these three, becomes its meaning.
The invariable content of the knower-known-knowledge is consciousness, which is satya. This satyam-jñānam-anantam, the consciousness, ātman, is predicated to Brahman which is the cause of the entire jagat. Later in the Taittirīyopaniṣad and elsewhere in the upaniṣads, the word ānanda is used in the place of ananta, which is the svarūpa of ātman.
Here, the word ‘ānanda’ can be translated as bliss if ānanda is experiential. But when it is a word unfolding the svarūpa of ātman, its translation can never be bliss. A special bliss experience is not going to announce, ‘I am ātman bliss,’ so that it can be recognised as unlike any other bliss experienced before.
Even if there is an experience of bliss, as modern Vedanta promises, the experience is only as good as we interpret it. And the interpretation is again only as good as our knowledge. Self-knowledge requires a means of knowledge for which we have no refuge except the śruti. If the śruti is presented as theory, the seeker’s initial confusion gets confounded.
Then what is the necessity for using the experiential word ānanda? The word serves two purposes: Firstly, it shows that the knowledge of ātman is desirable because ātman Is ānanda svarūpa. Secondly, it shows that the source of all forms of ānanda is nothing but the limitlessness of ātman.
If ānanda is translated as bliss instead of limitlessness or fullness, the seeker is led to believe that there is a special bliss hitherto not experienced. In fact, the śāstra says that any form of ānanda, whether it is born of sensory experience, viṣayānanda, or in the wake of some discovery, vidyānanda or by disciplines of yoga, yogānanda, is nothing but svarūpānanda.
The word ānanda, therefore, is meant to draw the attention of the seeker to oneself as the source of all ānanda. It means the seeker is limitlessness, fullness, which is experienced as happiness whenever the mind meets with the required disposition. The recognition of this fact removes the error of seeing myself as unhappy, ignorant and mortal. So the meaning of the words sat, cit and ānanda is important in helping the seeker recognise the self as free from all attributes .
~Dayananda
1. the canticles of satcitananda
The principle of existence is that impersonal being and supreme presence, sat.
The ground of pure consciousness is that absolute awareness and foundational intelligence, cit.
Not experiential bliss, as the superimposition of attention is not the substrate of awareness, but nondual and limitless, holistic bliss infinity, ananda.
2. people are dreamed of
"My dear People, My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses and Proudfoots."
The body-mind is made from material of maya. Satcitananda gives it life like a red hot iron ball in the great inferno of this universal furnace. Experience is consumed. Memories are made. People are dreamed of. Prepositions are stranded.
In light, of light, from light, to light, for effortless nondoing and intuitive nonknowing, tattvamasi.
THE JOY OF METAPHORS
Just as fire is the direct cause for cooking, Knowledge is the direct means of Liberation.
Knowledge destroys ignorance like light destroys darkness.
The Self reveals Itself by Itself – like the sun when the clouds pass away.
~from Atmabodha 2-4
"Brahman is different from the known, that is to say, from the tangible world of name and form, because It is the Eye of the eye, and so on. All tangible objects can be known somehow, by someone, and to some extent. Brahman is quite different from such objects.
Lest the disciple should misunderstand the statement of the teacher and conclude that Brahman is altogether unknown, the preceptor says that It is above the unknown. The word unknown means the unmanifested avidyā, which is the seed of the gross universe.
By describing Brahman as both distinct from the known and above the unknown, the text indicates that Brahman is Atman, or the inmost Self of the knower; for none other than one’s own Atman can be distinct from both the known and the unknown.”
~Nikhilananda on Kena 1.4
“Atman is the deathless, birthless, eternal, and real Substance in every individual. It is the unchanging Reality behind the changing body, sense-organs, mind, and ego. It is Spirit, which is Pure Consciousness and is unaffected by time, space, and causality;
Therefore It is limitless and One without a second. As the unchanging Reality in the individual is called Atman, so the unchanging Reality in the universe is called Brahman. Brahman, too, is beyond time, space, and causality and is all-pervading Spirit.
Vedanta states that Brahman and Atman are one and the same. The knowledge of this identity or non-difference is called Self-Knowledge."
~Nikhilananda (from commentary on Atmabodha)
“According to Vedanta the truth about man is that he is Brahman, or Infinite Spirit. The cause of his bondage and suffering is ignorance of his real nature. Knowledge destroys this ignorance and Self-Realization immediately follows.
Spiritual disciplines purify the heart, train the aspirant in concentration, and thus create the necessary condition for the revelation of Knowledge, which always exists. Since the Self is by nature eternal and immortal, It cannot be the result of an antecedent cause.
Knowledge, Liberation, Self, and Consciousness all denote the same spiritual experience. Knowledge is the cause of Liberation only in a figurative sense. The attainment of Knowledge really means the rediscovery of Knowledge, which is never non-existent.”
~Nikhilananda (from commentary on Atmabodha)
i.
What most think of as consciousness is really reflection of consciousness and such thinking is utterly superstitious and not nor ever can be proven by the church of scientific materialism. Consciousness is not a product of the body-mind as some ignorantly assume. But is the ground.
So here’s the rub. One could reasonably identify with the body-mind if all-knowing consciousness had been produced by it. But surprise, surprise, it wasn’t. And that’s disturbing to the general metaparadigm. I shouldn't take it personally.
If consciousness is actually the substrate to the superimposition of the body-mind, as the proverbial rope is to snake, as foundational awareness is to conceptual attention, then this congregation begins to question who am I. Waiting for absolution.
ii.
As atheism is the last refuge of a theist, nihilism is the final philosophy requiring personal deconstruction. Neti nihilism too. All views must pass. Awareness is unborn. Pure consciousness is the principle of existence. Satcitananda is nondual. I am Brahman.
iii.
Living like an individual in the indivisible is the only way to make a decent living in America these days. They say the lifeless moon is a spitting image of the sun but maya is more hydrologic. So much depends upon Satcitananda.
v
Beyond the fire of the mind is the light of consciousness. Beyond the movie is the silver screen. Beyond the light of consciousness is the black whole of awareness.
