How come we see a changing world and not The Immutable Brahman?

Question: How come we see a changing world and not The Immutable Brahman?

ramesam:  The manifestation of the Non-dual, Attributeless, Immutable  and Eternal Consciousness (= Brahman) as the impermanent ever changing world (multiplicity) in a sense is an “explanatory gap” from a strict rationalistic point of view. Why the apparent world has that specific structural and textural variability as observed and did not arise in some other pattern (e.g. 'utopian' model or without the predator-prey struggles)  is, perhaps, the ‘weakest link’ in the Advaita siddhanta (theoretical framework).

Having said so, there are a number of ways to resolve the 
‘One --> many’ problem. I shall list here several metaphors just to answer the “appearance” of the world part without getting into the bigger questions related to why and how of “creation” itself (origin of the universe).

1.  Scriptural view: The Upanishads (e.g. Chandogya, Taittiriya) state that the undifferentiated changeless “That” desired to become ‘many.’ Because of the observed ‘change’ in the state, one may post facto deduce that a ‘power’ must have caused it. The name given to that power is mAyA. mAyA has no, ontologically speaking, independent existence. It is not ‘sat’ (real).  But it wrought a change. Hence it is not non-existent either.

In other words, it is the indefinable, not-real-but-also-not-unreal  power of mAyA that gives raise to the false appearance of the world.

This type of modification of the immutable Oneness into multiple forms is described by the scriptures as vivarta (Sanskrit word which can be translated as ‘changeless change’). The resultant product (appearance of the world) is placed in the category of real-unreal or mithya.

One can never locate or find an entity mAyA anywhere. The scriptures narrate through several stories the futility of searching for mAyA. Therefore, admittedly, ‘mAyA vAda’ is an explanatory artifact.

Ignorance on your part: The scriptures invoke ‘ignorance’ (avidyA) also to explain the manifestation of the variegated manifold. Ignorance arises with your forgetfulness. When a thought arises in you, you tend to forget your true nature and you will ‘run’ (metaphorically) with the thought. Thus you ‘ignore’ your True Self (of being Brahman). The ignorance tentatively, in effect, ‘veils’ what you truly are. When you forget thus who or what you truly are, you begin to see multiplicity instead of Oneness.

Other models: There are many other explanatory devices one comes across in the scriptures to elucidate the appearance of a world based on the concepts of ‘karma’ (as an effect of past actions), ‘divine play’ (a game played with no purpose), ‘anAdi’ (cyclic operation with no known point of origin) etc. etc. 

In Reality (with a capital ‘R’), the apparent world that is perceived is comparable to a dream. It lasts as long as the dreamer believes in it and does not wake up from his/her dream.  So the world is described to be no more than a “Flower in the sky” (gagana pushpa) or a “Castle in the air” (gandharva nagari).

What has to be fundamentally appreciated is the Advaitic philosophical truth that the very question of “why” (under the assumption that there has to be a preceding ‘cause’ for ‘what I see as a changing world’), makes the world to arise! In the absence of a ‘thinker’ asking such a question, ‘Whatever-Is-There’ simply IS. And that ‘Whatever-Is-There’ is Brahman. It is beyond the scope of the present space here to expand the intricate philosophical doctrine involved.

2.  “Throb in the Blob” Metaphor:  I proposed this metaphor in my Post of 23 Sep 2012 to answer essentially the same question but formulated slightly differently. 

Imagine a homogeneous isotropic indivisible infinite shapeless Blob that has awareness. Say a small throb occurs somewhere within it. The throb is a movement. The movement takes the shape of a wave with crests and troughs. Space is required for any movement to take place. Movement also necessarily involves time for the change of position from one place to the other. So along with the throb, space and time are simultaneously engendered.

Fig.1.  The mind and sensory organs act like a prism
in showing an illusory manifested manifold (After R. Spira, 2008).

As the Blob looks through the oscillatory movement (i.e. The Blob being aware, it is aware of itself), variegated, colorful and multiple shapes appear to it, much like the one uniform white light passing through a prism  gets refracted into multicolored spectrum. (See Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.)  Also bear in mind that all this is taking place somewhere within the Blob itself and not anywhere outside the Blob because there is no ‘outside’ to the Blob.  The ‘Beingness’ of the Blob gets refracted as space and ‘Eternity’ as time by the vibration. 

Fig. 2. Sensory Organs superimpose their own qualities
on to the Attributeless Consciousness (Visualization to R. Spira's explanation). 

In the above metaphor, the Blob is Brahman; the throb is a thought; and the colorful spectrum is the world. The ‘throb’ represents the thought of the “desire to see.”

The throb vibrates like a ripple. It raises and falls. With each rise of the thought, a world is generated. With each ending of the thought, the world is dissolved.

If there is no throb, there is no thought.

If there is no thought, there is no world.

The moment the throb (thought) rises, so does the world. The moment thought dissolves, the world too ends. Hence the appearance of the world happens from moment to moment.

Dennis Waite pointed out (in a private e-mail) that even language (when we try to communicate the Oneness) may act like a prism and create duality because language by its very structure is dualistic.

3.  The Computer Screen Metaphor:  Another good way to understand the multiplicity is the analogy with the computer screen.

Suppose there is a picture on the screen. When you look at the picture, apparently you see the colorful girl, the running water, green trees, red flowers etc.  But where is the screen? Has the screen disappeared anywhere? Whether it is the tree or flower or river, it is all screen only. At one pixel position, the screen takes the form of a flower and at another pixel it appears as river. But has it ever stopped being the screen whether you see a tree or water or whatever? Irrespective of the form it takes, it is always screen only. The picture on the screen temporarily veils the screen, but the screen does not disappear anywhere nor the screen stops being what it is. You are always and everywhere looking at the screen only unless you are absorbed in the content of the picture element forgetting the screen.

So also everything that appears is Brahman who tentatively appears at that point in that shape when you begin to look at things using your mind (and senses).

The everlasting screen is comparable to Brahman. If you ‘misidentify’ yourself with one of the characters on the screen or ‘non-apprehend’ the screen wherever you are, you do not see the screen, but you keep seeing the other picture elements. 

4.  The Forest and the Trees Metaphor: There is One Brahman alone and no second ‘thing’ (ekameva advitIyam). Therefore, Brahman has infinite freedom and none  who can impose restraints or controls on Brahman. So Brahman can appear in any form It chooses.

Then automatically it means whatever is appearing is Brahman only. So what you may call as the ‘world’ is nothing but Brahman. It cannot be any other thing!

Let me give you a small example. I say there is a man only here and nothing else.

But you may say, “I find two hands hanging down a torso which is standing precariously on two slender awkwardly shaped pillars. There is a round thing on the top of this structure with some holes, two small shiny moving balls covered by lids etc.  I see many things there but not a man.  Where is the man?”

The obvious thing is that you are looking at Brahman but you are fragmenting it into several parts and seeing the different parts. The entire thing is Brahman only. You are missing the wood for the trees!

Isavasa Upanishad says ‘isaavaasya midagam sarvam’ (what there is around is permeated by Brahman only), Chandogya Up. Says ‘neha nAnAsti kincana’ (there is no multiplicity here).

5.  The Eye can’t see itself:  You see with your eye; but the eye cannot see itself. Similarly, the seer can never become the seen. The moment a thing is ‘seen’, there has to be someone different there who is the seer. Right?

You are yourself Brahman (the Seer like the eye). Then how can you see yourself?

Let me give you an example. Suppose you are a drop of water. You want to find out what an ocean is. So as a drop of water you enter the ocean. What happens? Can the water drop see the ocean as a separate thing sitting out there away from itself? The water drop in the ocean loses its identity. It is as much the ocean as what is around.

Frustrating though it is, you (i.e. the one who thinks (s)he is this body-mind seeing a world out there using his sensory organs) can never see Brahman. He will see a world only.

In fact the sensory system of the human body is so built that it is sensitive to notice ‘change’ only. If there is no change, the neurons in the brain become ‘adapted’ and fail to perceive anything, (For example: have you been feeling the shirt on your back until I point out now to you?) 

6.  Looking makes the world to arise:  Brahman becomes the world the moment you look at It.

To look at a thing, you have to position yourself away from what you look at. That means you create space and distance between you and the thing you are looking at. That in turn means, you think that you are separate from the thing being looked at.

In other words, the sense of separation actually comes first and then you are able to look at a thing. When the sense of a separate ‘me’ here looking at a thing there arises, the ONE Brahman gets divided into two – “I” here and the “world” there. If there is no sense of separate ‘me’, there is no “I” here and a distant “world” there. All are One.

7.  Mind as Mirror:  Suppose you want to look at your face. How do you do it? You use a mirror. Without a mirror or some reflector, you cannot see your own face. Similarly, when Brahman gets a thought to look at itself, the ‘thought that I am separate’ comes. This ‘thought I am separate’ has the name ‘mind.’ Mind works as the mirror. So Brahman looking at himself through mind, sees his reflection – which is called the world.

The mind works with the assistance of the five senses. The five senses pass on their own qualities to what is observed (like colored filters painting their own color). As a result the one Brahman appears as multiplicity.

8.  Limitation of the Apparatus:  Suppose you are sitting in  a closed room and looking out through a small narrow window. Obviously then the view you get will be limited. It is so because of the inherent limitation or defects in the apparatus you are using to look at; but it is not a limitation of what is out there.  The mind and the sensory organs you use are inadequate to show the infinite Brahman and provide you fragmented views broken as per the senses – something visual, some part auditory, yet another part tactile and so on instead of the one “Whole.”  So you think what is seen is divided into parts attributing the limitation of the instruments of perception to what is seen.

A common example given in the Vedanta is appearance of ‘two moons because of defective vision in the eye’.  Though there is actually only one moon, a short-sighted man sees as if there is more than one moon in the sky. So your inability to perceive the unchanging Oneness of Brahman is because of the limitations of your mind and the sensory organs.

9.  The Moth and the Flame Metaphor: Thought is basically incapable wrapping itself around the conundrum of changing changelessness of Brahman like the proverbial moth rushing into the flame for a taste of it. The brilliant exposition of Rupert in this less than 8 min Video clip titled "Reality is neither Changing nor Unchanging" captures this well. 

EAT MY WORDS BY JEFF FOSTER

EAT MY WORDS
By Jeff Foster

[Jeff Foster with his ever alert eyes and infectious laughter is a dynamic and young Non-dual teacher very popular in the West.  He used to deliver the message of "No one there" with a bang a few years ago. He admits his teaching style has changed now, thanks to the interactions with people he has been having.  It is not merely the style that has changed. There is much more to it, perhaps even the focus. 

The striking contrast in Jeff's response now and in mid-2009 to starvation and hunger speaks volumes about this shift. His message of 16^th Dec 2012 is reproduced below. What he said in 2009 can be seen here. I am deeply indebted to Jeff for his kind permission to let me post his message at our Blog and also for the love and affection with which he readily gave the consent – ramesam.]

EAT MY WORDS

Jeff Foster at FaceBook on 16 Dec 2012:

"Imagine this.

You're a spiritual teacher. A ragged child, starving hungry, shivering in the bitter cold, comes up to you. She asks you why there is suffering in the world, and if we have any control over our lives. ...

But you didn't hear what the child was really asking, did you? You played your role as "spiritual teacher" perfectly, yes, but the situation may have required something totally different, and in your rush to hold up an image, you just may have missed something essential.

We can get so lost in our spiritual stories, can't we. And sometimes we can forget that the one in front of us just needs a warm meal, a bed for the night, some practical help - the human touch. And then, maybe, when their basic needs are met, they may be open to something else, who knows. But that is all future-thinking. What is here, right now?

You give her a long lecture about the ins and outs of consciousness, the perfection of 'what is', the paradox of the Absolute and the Relative, the benefits of awakening to your true nature. You tell her the story of your own awakening, how your life changed beyond recognition many years ago, how deeply at peace you are right now, how you are changing your student's lives. 

You remind her about the illusion of choice, about how in reality there is no past and future, that there is only Now. You tell her about suffering, how ultimately it is all an illusion, how we only suffer when we are at war with life, when we push away thoughts and feelings and sensations, when we stop seeing 'what is' right in front of us in the moment. You insinuate that she should accept 'what is' and stop her storytelling.

The child walks away. You feel satisfied - you spoke the Truth, without compromise. You have just contributed to that child's awakening. Or so you think.

Remember, that child cannot eat your words. She will still starve if she is not fed. Words will not stop her from freezing to death tonight. Was she really asking for more words? Is that what the situation was really calling for?

Teaching is not preaching, nor is it regurgitation. It is alive. It emerges from seeing - from deep sensitivity to the one in front of you. Deep listening. Meeting truth without agenda. And a willingness to drop any 'image' you are carrying, even the image that you are a teacher with the answers.

Right now, are we able to really listen?"

Inquiring into Compulsion - Is Spirituality too an Addiction?

Inquiring into Compulsion - Is Spirituality too an Addiction?

We are making an exception this month for our Blog Post as 2012 comes to an end. 

Instead of an article as usual, I am presenting a Video Link to an intro on "Compulsion Inquiry" by Scott Kiloby.

Scott needs no introduction to the Non-dual seekers.

I have a widget** appearing regularly on the right hand side of this Blog giving a link to the "Unfindable Inquiry", a sharp tool devised  by him about a year ago to discover to our amazement that there is no "self", a solid 'me' sitting anywhere inside us.

[**  --  The Widget referred to has since been closed by me. The link does not appear anymore.]

As the year 2012 culminates, his message, on how we become slaves to one addiction or other unconsciously, and how our body gets triggered by subliminal signals of our addiction going below the detection limits of our radar, is quite timely.

Yes, spirituality too can be an addiction -  a 'pious' aim anchoring on which we would like to attain that unfettered, unlimited, unbound, and infinite Freedom of who we Truly are. We are not conscious how this 'apparently noble' addiction could itself  be the Trojan horse for the 'ego', the very thing we misidentify with and still keep carrying it in some corner within our body unable to drop it. Scott's device helps expose all such hidden crannies and that very exposure evaporates the ghostly ego.

Compulsion Inquiry (9.5 min):  Click here

A Demo (about 32 min, just posted by Scott (21 Dec 2012)):  Click here

There is also a new Web site just for the inquiries, along with a video demonstration of the UI.

[Some of the links to Scott's site may not be working now as he updated the info and modifed his web site.]

*****

Maybe you had already seen these Audio/Videos; Even so quite worth watching again:

Non-dual Yoga Therapist Ellen Emmet: The Body of Presence - (Video 28 min):
http://bcove.me/qrwl7pr6

Non-dual Teacher Peter Dziuban (Video 6.5 min): Notice Like An Astronaut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFra0OwtD5M

Non-dual Teacher Rupert Spira:  True Meditation never ends (Audio - about 48 mins):

http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/listen/true-meditation-never-ends-meditation

Professor of Neuroscience Bruce Hood: The Self Illusion ( Video - less than 30 min):
http://brucemhood.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/buddha-bombs/#comment-7103 

Actor Thandie Newton:  Tells the story of finding her "otherness" (Video - about 14 min):
http://www.ted.com/talks/thandie_newton_embracing_otherness_embracing_myself.html


Wishing All Our Readers

Seasons Greetings and
Best Wishes For a Happy And Prosperous
New Year

Brain activity during a trance state

Brain activity during a trance state

"Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil analyzed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of Brazilian mediums during the practice of psychography, described as a form of writing whereby a deceased person or spirit is believed to write through the medium's hand. The new research revealed intriguing findings of decreased brain activity during mediumistic dissociative state which generated complex written content.

Spiritual experiences affect cerebral activity, this is known. But, the cerebral response to mediumship, the practice of supposedly being in communication with, or under the control of the spirit of a deceased person, has received little scientific attention, and from now on new studies should be conducted," says Andrew Newberg, MD, director of Research at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and a nationally-known expert on spirituality and the brain.

The researchers found that the experienced psychographers showed lower levels of activity in the left hippocampus (limbic system), right superior temporal gyrus, and the frontal lobe regions of the left anterior cingulate and right precentral gyrus during psychography compared to their normal (non-trance) writing. The frontal lobe areas are associated with reasoning, planning, generating language, movement, and problem solving, perhaps reflecting an absence of focus, self-awareness and consciousness during psychography, the researchers hypothesize.

Less expert psychographers showed just the opposite-increased levels of CBF in the same frontal areas during psychography compared to normal writing. The difference was significant compared to the experienced mediums. This finding may be related to their more purposeful attempt at performing the psychography. The absence of current mental disorders in the groups is in line with current evidence that dissociative experiences are common in the general population and not necessarily related to mental disorders, especially in religious/spiritual groups. Further research should address criteria for distinguishing between healthy and pathological dissociative expressions in the scope of mediumship."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brazilian-mediums-brain-trance-state.html

Full Article at PLOS:  
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049360

Desire for Liberation

Desire for Liberation

Question by Mr. Q-- :  I was going through your blog, it is beautiful. What is the relevance of the methods prescribed by the ancient scriptures in the present day?  Trying to emulate them leads us no where I guess.

ramesam: Thank you for the comment about the Blog.

I am inclined to think the same way as you expressed about our ancient scriptural stipulations / eligibility conditionalities. After all, they were developed to cater to a populace that had no present day informationbase, schooling systems, civic and other facilities and knowledge.  A reasonably educated individual in the present day would have had a mind already trained in the abilities like focusing, unbiased analysis and purposeful inquiry. Even Sankara declared that “Chittasya sudhaye karma.”  So the final message on Truth can be more direct and devoid of the unnecessary burden of mysticism and weightage given to ritualistic procedures.

Mr. Q-- : What I mean to say is that mind is the cause of duality and however refined it may get, it cannot comprehend Non-duality. I have read Mandukya karika of Gaudapada. Undoubtedly it is very bold and forthright. But it speaks from the Absolute state and we are just speculating based on assumptions – sort of indulging in conceptual thinking. I was in the monastic order of an ashram.  Now I am back home and would like to know more.

I have read many books and heard so many people. It has sharpened my intellect but it has not stopped my thinking machine, self-talking or has not dissolved my ‘self.’ I can talk about love, bliss, no mind, no self etc. But that’s my knowledge. When I am ruthlessly honest with myself, I discover how lonely I am craving for love.

ramesam:  Undoubtedly you are at that intensive phase of inquiry that everybody goes through.  You have already sharpened your mind through the various techniques followed by you and I suppose it is ready to take up serious Self-inquiry.

As you are well aware, the real understanding of the Truth is NOT the result of any action - like more meditation, rituals, yoga etc.

The simple message is, you must have heard it, “you are already That which you are seeking.”

The question then comes to the mind: Why do I still feel as if I am missing something? Why is there no full satisfaction?

Well, the answer is: You are That (tat tvam asi).

Putting it in more words:

The nirguna Brahman has the freedom to manifest in any form.

At this moment, It has manifested as that sense of a "lack” – the lacking may be ‘craving for love or feeling of loneliness’.

So that very sense of missing something, absence of satisfaction at this moment is Brahman. You are That only.

It is not that Mr. Q-- is sitting here and he possesses this sense of dissatisfaction. There is no Mr. Q-- at that moment separate from that sense of lack at this moment.

Or let us look at it this way:

That feeling of 'lack' is after all another "thought." You have noticed that thought. Do not own that thought and begin claiming, “It is my feeling.”

Like all thoughts, it will also go away. A new thought will come. Do not hang on to any of the thoughts. Also do not make an effort to push it away or annihilate it. You are not different from that thought at that moment. So you cannot annihilate yourself.

Suppose there is a particular image on the computer screen. Is the image different from the screen? It is the computer screen only appearing as that image at that moment. Next moment there will be a different image. The screen is always there as the base for all images. The screen does not own the image or keep it as its possession. The screen itself does not change - it continues to be itself and also it remains as itself (the screen) in the gaps where the image is not there. The screen does not hold on to any image. It lets all images to appear and also lets them go. You are like the screen. The thoughts, feelings and even the world are like the images on the screen.

A feeling of "lacking something" has appeared as a thought because of some stored information in you (somebody's teaching or some fancy idea about liberation being an ever happy state etc.).  You are trying to obtain that non-existing (unreal) undefined expectation of an "ever-happy aroused state" by pushing away what you are in the "NOW."

By this effort to push away that thought, you are giving more energy to that thought to sustain itself.

Just simply notice that thought which gives you a sense of "lack."

Do not have anything to do with it. Do not even think about it.

Just be aware of it like you are aware of the sounds from the street. And leave at that.

You never bothered yourself what sounds are coming from the street. You do not pay attention to them. You do not stop or desire to change them. Sounds come and go away. So treat the thoughts also similarly.

Just as the sounds have no value, the contents of the thought (good, noble, mean, bad etc.) have no value. You do not have to invite a good thought or get rid of a bad thought. Nothing to invite or reject. Whatever arises at the moment, you are that.

This is an important stage and if this is understood, that is the END of seeking.

(The Posts on Annette Nibley and Conversations with a Living Gaudapada at this Blog deal with this aspect. Please read these two Posts also).

Mr. Q-- : Thanks for writing at length. I agree with what you say about discontent that a spiritual seeker goes through. But in my case I would say I am not at all a spiritual seeker. I have all kinds of mundane tensions, need to earn money to be financially independent. I would like to say that I am more curious than being a seeker. I have observed that the mind uses everything to perpetuate ego.

ramesam:  You are obviously at a turning point in your life - you left the monastic life and looking for a job etc.

The important point is that you see your state very clearly yourself. You are watching your thoughts rather than getting carried away by the thoughts. That is very good.

We need not talk about spirituality. "Seeking" does not mean spirituality.

You said that you were just curious. Curiosity also requires sincere "inquiry."

You also said that you do observe the observer-observed-observing. Who you think is that observer?

You have all these thoughts about yourself, your name, age, desire to settle down, the knowledge gained from your studies at the monastery. Added to these are your feelings, hurts, opinions, doubts, uncertainities etc.

All these are in the mind as thoughts. So the bundle of all these thoughts together define what is known as Mr. Q--.  That makes up your personality. There is nothing wrong with this. It is quite natural to have all such thoughts as long as you have a body.

Now this Mr. Q-- is not happy about all these thoughts. He wants to avoid these thoughts and stop them. But notice that these are another bunch of more thoughts! These thoughts are not different from earlier bunch of thoughts for which we have identified with the name Mr. Q--.

Do you see the funny part? One set of thoughts identify themselves as Mr. Q-- and another set of thoughts now behave as if they are not Mr. Q--. But they are all Mr. Q-- only. They are all together your personality - including bodily needs like food, lust etc.

This bunch of thoughts called Mr. Q-- is seeking now to have a different set of thoughts. It is all a game of thoughts.

So the important thing is not to  identify yourself with any of these thoughts. It is not a question of stopping the thoughts. Thoughts don't stop (except in deep sleep).

But you are watching the thoughts. Be always the watcher and not the thoughts. So remember yourself always as the watcher of thoughts.

I am sure, you know all this verbally. You have to start digesting and assimilating it by practicing. Verbal understanding is not enough. If you understand verbally, it will remain only as another thought. So you have to constantly practice to remember that you are the watcher and not the thought that you watch.

So leave all spirituality. Let this part be clear.

Mr. Q-- :  How about the cause and effect relationship?

ramesam: It will be easy to understand when once the earlier material is clearly grasped – that you are the watcher like the constant unchanging computer screen which appears as one image or another from moment to moment..

You know how a thermometer works. It can measure temperature only at the given moment.

It cannot tell you the temperature that was 5 minutes back or 3 days ago.

It also cannot tell the temperature of tomorrow or one hour after.

It always measures in the 'now.'

Similarly, your consciousness also works always in the "Now."

Consciousness has no past or future.

Even if you think of, say, your meal of yesterday or going to school when you were 5 years old, it is clearly a thought about yesterday or an incident when you were 5 yrs old. It is from the memory of the past.

The memory appears as an image in the mind in the "Now."

Image in the mind now means, it is also a thought.

Even if you think of future, it is also an image - a thought in the mind.

Your consciousness detected the thought about the past or about the future. But the detection is happening in the "Now" - like a thermometer sensing the temperature .

So really speaking, your consciousness did not experience the past or future but it experienced (detected) a thought occurring in the now, in the present moment.

Like the thermometer, your consciousness also does not have a past or future.

Hope it is clear so far.

You know already that you are not your visible physical body.

You know already that you are not your mind. 

You are your Consciousness. And Consciousness can work only in the Now like a thermometer.

Agreed?

If you think that there is a cause that has given raise to an effect, it will always take time for the cause to change into an effect.

The cause will come first and the effect later. So a time period is involved between cause and effect. Like cause in the past, an effect in the present or in the future.

Consciousness does not have past or future. It IS always in the Present Now as explained above. You are your Consciousness. You have no past or future.

How can then Consciousness see any cause that possibly happened in a past -- after all a 'past' does not exist for Consciousness – remember that Consciousness only knows Now, no memory of past for It?

If you 'think' there was a cause and you see the effect now, it is the mind as memory showing an image of the past. You as Consciousness observed the image or thought in the Now.

So when you, Consciousness, have no 'time period', how can there be a cause in the past and its effect coming later?

Only a memory thinks about past and an imagination thinks about the future. And these are all thoughts detected or seen by Consciousness in the Now.

You or your Consciousness is what is in the present. You are always "eternally" in the present.

Life is what is present. Do not live in the past. Living in the past is like living in memory - can you live in memory? You cannot be alive now if you lived in memory only!

Further, Consciousness is all that exists like the computer screen.  The screen is one though there may be many images. We can talk of a relationship only when there are at least two entities. A discussion on the relationship between cause and effect can be there only if these are two existing entities. But multiplicity is an imagination only, imagined by the mind. What really IS is One Consciousness only. There are no causes, effects and relationships. Therefore, we need not talk of a relationship between a non-existing cause and effect.

You may also like to see here where I discussed "causality" in response to another question.

Do "No-thing" by A. Krishnamurthy

Do "No-thing" 

by A. Krishnamurthy

[My close friend and class-fellow during undergrad years, Shri Annapragada Krishnamurthy retired as a Director of the Geological Survey of India. He was a rebel and non-conformist by nature and faced many an ordeal in life and his job. He found solace in the teachings of Chinmayananda and Vedanta and was finally led to his Guru Shri Kamilibaba, a Sufi Mystic who, he believes, guides every step of his journey in life constantly watching and taking care of him. Krishnamurthy follows the Ajativada of Gaudapadacharya and all his doubts on the philosophical part were set at rest by Swami Somanatha Maharishi of Hyderabad.  Krishnamurthy authored the well-received book, "Silent Thunder" published in 2010 and now lives with his wife in Hyderabad, India. He has also a web site with the name Silent Thunder.

Shri Krishnmurthy is a large-hearted and helpful person who readily assumes other's problems as his own and rushes to their aid irrespective of his own delicate health. I am grateful to him for this contribution to be posted at the Blog -- ramesam.]

Do "No-thing" 

by A. Krishnamurthy

The other day I was reading an article in Times of India. In the column narrating spiritual thoughts, a disciple asked his Zen master as to what he will gain after observing severe spiritual practices; the Master replied “Nothing”. The disciple was surprised and repeated the question. He got the same reply. So you do all spiritual sadhana, including meditation just to get “Nothing”? The greatest Hindu philosopher Gaudapada, Adi Shankara’s master’s master also emphatically said the final benefit of all spiritual practices is to realize ultimately “Nothing.” 

In the karika 23 of Mandukya Upanishad, Gaudapada says: The sound letter ‘A’ helps the meditator to attain a well developed waking state personality. The meditator on ‘U’ attains a well developed mind and intellect and He who meditates on ‘M’ attains ‘Prajna.’ In the soundlessness after AUM, ‘there is no attainment.'

Let us examine what happens practically. Let the spiritual seeker or the Sadhaka do severe penance, pranayama, and observe other austerities such as keeping quiet (Silence), not eating food or eating less. Ultimately he has to die and his body made up of five elements, Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Space merge with five fundamental elements of Nature. ‘Water goes to water, air to air and earth to earth' is what Christianity tells us. The life spark, technically called as 'Atma' in Sanskrit language as per Sanathana Dharma and now commonly called as 'Self' in English merges with Self. The Self does not gain anything and there is nothing else which can claim any gain. This is the absolute Truth. 

In Prasnopanishad, Yaksha asks Yudhistira “Kim Ascharyam?” For which Yudhistira replies “ Death. Although we see every day people around us die, we feel that death will not come to us.”  Bhagavadgita says that whosever/ whichever takes birth has to die.

So it is certain we gain “Nothing” in the end even if we do every thing/anything either spiritually/or in the materialistic world . So conversely or logically we have to do “Nothing” to gain everything i.e. By gaining which there is nothing else that needs to be gained? This is the crux of Philosophy either in Advaita or Zen. Osho says “Be Nothing; Do Nothing and desire Nothing. You do “Nothing” to gain the ultimate, Self or Atma or whatever name you call it. “Kasmin Bhagavo Vijnathe Sarvamidam Vijnanam Bhavathi (By Knowing which, you know everything).

Now let us examine how to do “Nothing”. This is the most difficult part of a practice. Try to do “Nothing” for at least a day, or an hour! In the Silence you reach Eternal says Jiddu Krishnamurti. In Mandukya Upanishad it is stated : “ Om ityetadakSharam idam sarvam. Ayam Atma Brahma. Soyam Atma Chatushpada.” This ‘ATMA’ is Brahman and all, and is divided into four parts. ‘Jagarita sthana’ means waking stage, about which only western philosophers and even Islamic religion speaks much. Dream state is talked of as unreal and mind imagines the unreal objects. Mind itself takes dual role. Sushipti is the best part of our life as we enjoy as we know nothing except that we slept well. The fourth which encompasses all is the Turiya state, wherein the individual ‘Self’ merges with the vast omnipotent energy, Universal Consciousness or GOD. To attain the Turiya state is called as ‘Nirvana’. Thre is nothing beyond, or before, above or below. 

Only in waking state we have a choice to do any thing or ‘Nothing’. In the waking state, the mind is ever receiving impulses through senses from objects; sounds, tastes feelings etc. Mind is not an organ in the conventional sense. It is not situated in the Brain or any other organ. Brain is a computer coordinating all the body functions. Hence we take that a man is dead only when his Brain is dead. You might have followed the TV News when Puttaparthi Sai Baba was in his last days. Every organ was malfunctioning, but he was kept on Lifeline and declared dead only after his Brain was dead. I read it in Scientific American journal that a team of doctors interested in organ transplantation wait eagerly for the team of doctors attending on the patient to declare that his Brain is dead before they salvage the useful organs.

Mind is only energy at the subatomic level of every single human cell of which there are one hundred billions in all. Matter and Energy are the two sides of the same coin; they are not two distinct entities at the subtlest level. Hans- Peter Duerr, Emeritus President of the Max Planck Institute in Munich, who succeeded Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg, realized that there is no matter distinct from energy at the subtlest level. That vast omnipotent energy is the Universal Consciousness (or GOD). We humans are but a tiny bit of that Consciousness, the individual consciousness. (Courtesy : Prof B.M.Hegde )

Coming back to our discussion, we can control our physical actions, but controlling our mind in waking and dream states is next to impossible. Even Lord Krishna agrees that “Asamsayam Mahabaho Manah durnigraham chalam” (No doubt it is difficult to control mind). But Mind is a bundle of thoughts and thoughts arise in calm mental lake, our Manasa sarovar, due to energy disturbances created by impulses received by mind through senses. Gaudapada says that the mind can exist and maintain its personality only if there are objects of perception. He who with discrimination withdraws his entire attention from the external objects and totally rolls of his attention from his body, mind and intellect comes to recognize his own spiritual personality. Swamy Chinmaya says “ On meditating regularly upon the silent aspect of AUM, the individual self meaning the egoistic idea of separativeness in us, gets merged into the divine experience of the All-soul, the Eternal and Immortal.” When you are continuously meditating on AUM, between chanting of one AUM and other, there is a blissful moment of silence however imperceptible it may be. While we are trying to capture the silence between two successive AUMs , our mind and intellect become steady and sharp and single pointed.

Yogis depend on the control of their mind for the knowledge of ‘Self’, fearlessness and peace. Yogi’s method is to sublimate or eliminate ‘thought’ by thought. By thought he empties the thought, controls the mind and maintains that state of ‘Thought less ness.’ in the mind. A Vedantin purifies his mind and controls it by his intellect. Discrimination is the subtle motive force by which Vedantin controls and regulates his mind.

Kamilibaba

Aum Shanti! Shanti, Shanti

STREAM OF THOUGHTS - A QUESTION

STREAM OF THOUGHTS - A Question

Question by an educated Seeker well-informed on Advaita : I was meditating this morning and was trying to get rid of different thoughts so as to become thoughtless as I did every morning..As a thought strikes I tried to get off it, came to no thought zone for a split second. And then a new one strikes. I did the same.

My doubt is:

Who is it that was trying to move away from different thoughts?

Today I realized that "I" knew that I was moving from one thought to another. Is it another thought that is controlling the other thoughts?

Is this no thought zone one more thought ? But I knew the drift between the thoughts.

Who is perceiving this? Is it a game of the "I-ness" thought?

Lastly, what is meant by "to be in the PRESENT"? How to be in the present "NOW"?

ramesam: Thanks for the question.

You have arrived at the mother of all the questions or rather THE only real QUESTION!!!

but let's go slowly, in the way you posed the doubts. Your words are in blue. My response is in black.

As a thought strikes I tried to get off it,

A thought has arisen. Then you say "I tried to get off". Who or what is this "I"? It is simply another thought! It is a new thought arising and placing itself to be different from the previous thought and calls itself 'a thinker' and says, "I should get rid off thinking."  But is there any difference between the new thought labeling itself "the thinker" and the previous or any other thought? NO.

..... came to no thought zone for split second

The so called no thought zone is also a perception - a thing percieved. Hence it is another ephemeral object. It cannot be the Subject and can never be permanent. All percepts (including thoughts and the  gap between two thoughts) are  objects i.e. finite limited things. They come and go. They do not stay forever.

(There is awareness of a thought, awareness of a gap and then awareness of (another) thought. Notice that That awareness is  the only unchanging common thing to all.  We shall talk about this again. For now, just please make note of this point).

And a new one strikes. I did the same.

Are you not forming a habitual pattern in this process of the so-called 'meditation'? Under the name of meditation, a pattern  is getting established by  you.

You watch a thought arising, you try to get rid of it, then you notice a gap, another thought comes up and you repeat the process. But the good news is you have already observed the game that goes on and the tricks that are being played by the mind.

My doubt is: Who is it that was trying to move from different thoughts?

Obviously it is a "desire" who is trying to move away from the thought that is currently occurring.

But that 'desire' is another thought - it (the desire) might have arisen because of some belief you had or some learning acquired by you in the past or  perhaps you heard someone teaching that you should get rid of thoughts.

Today I realized that "I" knew that I was moving from one to another thought. Is it another thought of controlling the other thoughts?

Is this no thought zone one more thought ? but I knew the drift between the thoughts.

As long as a "you" here knows the thoughts together with the gaps that are going on and is observing them, the three entities of an observer (you), the act of observing and the observed (the thought/gap) continue. This is the triad - triputi. So long as the triad exists, it is obviously a multiplicity (more than one) and it is not Unicity (a-dvaita).

 In True meditation, as JK (J. Krishnamurti) says it so often, the meditator (observer) and the meditated (object) and the act of meditation (action) do not exist as three distinct entities. The meditator, the meditated and the act of meditating become One. That means only "the act of meditating" remains without the conscious awareness of a "me" meditating. (Do NOT make this into some big incomprehensible issue. It is simply the ordinary life we live from moment to moment but without the sense of "I am doing things" (i.e. "doership"). Therefore, living naturally is itself the true "meditation").

Who is perceiving this? Is it a game of the "I ness" thought?

The Unchanging Perceiver is the real You, the Brahman, The Consciousness. Anything observed is a thought. You observe your body. So body is a thought, an ephemeral object. In contrast, The Perceiver can never know or perceive Himself - like your eye can never see itself.  If you want to perceive yourself, You as the Perceiver will be lost in Oneness, as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said, like a salt doll immersing itself in an ocean. The doll can never know the ocean. It dissolves in it and loses its "separateness."

The thought to "get rid" of thoughts, the desire for thought-free gaps are the games of I-thought (chidabhAsa - Sanskrit word to mean a fallacious appearance i.e. I-consciousness or ego).

Lastly, what is meant by "to be in the PRESENT"? How to be in the present "NOW"?

The Perceiver as the real "you" has no desires, no ambitions or concerns and has been observing everything that is going on - thoughts, gaps, wanting to move away from the current thought, wanting to control the thought etc. etc.

That Perceiver is ALWAYS AND ALL THE TIME (ETERNALLY) observing All in the PRESENT. It sees the current thought, the current object. Even if a memory of the past thought arises, that memory is occurring in the PRESENT as a thought!
So the Perceiver IS ALWAYS and ALREADY in the NOW, perceiving in the PRESENT.

You remember the thermometer metaphor. A thermometer can and always will function in the present. It cannot give you the temp of a minute ago or tomorrow's temp. The thermometer has no past or history and memory. It is the mind that has a memory. Like the thermometer, the Real Perceiver is already in the Now. You do not have to do anything about it. In fact, you cannot escape from being in the NOW. You are always in the NOW. YOU ARE THAT NOW!!! You cannot get rid off the now.

When you think about past or a future, it is actually a perception of the past or future image happening in your mind in the Now. If you think of the dinner last night, it is a thought of the dinner (with sambar or curry) occurring now.

As you read each word in this mail, your reading is happening in the Now. You are perceiving in the Now, from moment to moment.

You are that Perceiver. If you see the world, you are the Seer and the world is the mentally perceived object, a thought in the Now. You do not have to do specially any thing in the PRESENT to see the world, hear the hum from the tube-light or the noise from the street. You do not do anything to be present in the now.

The final message of Advaita is "Just stay as that Observer". Let all things arise as they come up - that is the Freedom.

Let there be no desire to change any thing. That is liberation from bondage - attachments, likes-dislikes, happiness-sorrow etc. Abiding in the unconcerned act of observing, without the feel of a "me"  existing somewhere here separate from what is observed is  -  Oneness or Identity with what is observed. Another name for that Identity (with the absence of a separate 'me') is Love.

So the only "To Do thing" is as follows:

First and foremost, the above message that "You" are the unconcerned Perceiver has to be clearly ingested.

Let the understanding be at an intellectual level to start with.

Then realize it experientially by experimenting, i.e. at the level of the body and the senses. You should know that you are not the body (which is perceived by you like you see any other object) but that You are that very Consciousness because of which You are conscious.  Remember constantly that your perceiving is already in the Now. 

Whenever the mind, out of its own old habit, pulls you away from this act of Pure Observing, pure Knowing-Being in the Now, remind yourself again that you are the Perceiver.

                                                            *****

Halloween Advaitamin By Ron Bonilla

Halloween Advaitamin

By Ron Bonilla

[Ron Bonilla lives in Fullerton, a small city in Orange County CA, USA. Even as a young lad of 10-12, he had insights into the ‘inter-connectedness of all beings.’ Perhaps, more accurately, “they were the earliest memories of the beginning of a spiritual quest that took many turns over the years” for him.  Ron was raised Roman Catholic and remained so until his twenties. He later spent decades in one denomination or another never feeling quite comfortable in any of them. After becoming disenchanted with the Eastern Orthodox Church- his last stop in his journey through Christianity, he discovered Advaita/Vedanta. He fell in love with Advaita and “after a few years of reading and self inquiry,” his search ended, after a brief meeting with Robert Wolfe who became a dear friend and mentor.

Ron is a teacher of non-duality and is 63 now; but he still retains a child-like enthusiasm and wit. He started blogging about a year ago mainly to address his family and close friends. The clarity and humor in his short crisp writings are truly enjoyable as he brings out the message of Non-duality through eye-catching descriptions of simple events of life. It is fun to read how he teaches “Tat Tvam Asi” using the misery he had had in an algebra class as a kid and “The absence of a ‘me’” using his experience in an accident he had with an old decrepit swing. Ron’s Blog is Nonduality State Park,  and Ron will be happy to discuss Non-duality via email, by phone, or in person after making arrangements for such.

I am grateful to Ron for his ready consent to let me reproduce his Blog Post of 30 Oct 2011 here -- ramesam.]

Halloween Advaitamin

By Ron Bonilla

This will be a short little post...an Advaitamin.

I can't remember every Halloween that I participated in as a kid, nor can I remember every costume that I wore. Most of those nights, running from yard to yard yelling "Trick or Treat", have faded from memory.  What hasn't faded is the way Halloween felt; the experience of it: the sights and sounds, jaywalking across streets with a full sack of goodies, the big house with the cheesy scarecrow on the porch, being disappointed when someone gave you raisins instead of candy, being overjoyed when someone gave you a big handful of  chocolates, coming home tired to sort out the nights haul. That was pure fun. That was Halloween.

There is one memory of Halloween that I cherish to this day, and look back at as something almost sacred. It was a completely private experience and, until now, I have never discussed nor shared it with anyone else. It was the moment I put on my mask and looked out through the eye holes. In that moment, awareness arose. In that moment I became aware that "I" was looking out from behind the mask. I was just a kid, but I was present to the moment, experiencing a profound sense of being. I couldn't have explained it like that at the time, but that was how it felt.

Many, many years have gone by since I last wore a Halloween mask. My masks are more subtle now, and I change them from time to time. What hasn't changed is the fact that "I" am still here, looking out from behind the mask. More precisely, what I am is still here, looking out.

Peace be with you,
Ron