Various quotes and musings in the light of Vedanta

[Jewell]

"I searched for God and found only myself.
I searched for myself and found only God".

Sufi Proverb

[Hari]

Dear Hari,

All these question will be solved when you pursue Self Enquiry. The questions that appear in the interim ought to be ignored, that is the outgoing mind ought to be pulled inward.

Unless we pursue one sadhana completely, there will be no end to doubts. As Bhagavan says, who is the doubter, that ought to be sought out.

Even when extraneous thoughts sprout up during such enquiry, do not seek to  complete the rising thought, but instead, deeply enquire within, 'To who has  this thought occurred?' No matter how many thoughts thus occur to you, if you  would with acute vigilance enquire immediately as and when each individual  thought arises to whom it has occurred, you would find it is to 'me'. If then you enquire 'Who am I?' the mind gets introverted and the rising thought also subsides. In this manner as you persevere more and more in the practice of Self-enquiry, the mind acquires increasing strength and power to abide in its Source.

(Who am I)


I have come to discern one thing, it is wise to narrow down our search to one path, (after dabbling with various thousands of paths - all valid no doubt) it is important to stick to one Guru, and trust in His words with absolute faith when you are tired of all the dabblings. All the words of all Gurus are true in their own seats. You see, we cannot travel north and south at the same time. we need to repose at one corner.

Lets take all the good things from all corners, all Gurus but submit ourselves completely to ONE GURU and His words alone, be it Chaitanya, or Ramakrishna or Ramana or Shankara or Jesus or Prophet.

I realise that it is very important to travel in one path, however we may be diverse from within, accepting all paths and faiths. We have to stick to one path.

If we want to compare the words of all Gurus in one platform, then there is going to be difference, it would not be wise on our part to compare these two in terms of what they say.

While pursuing Self Enquiry, half way, if we jump to Ramakrishna or Chaitanya or Jesus then it is only causing you harm and confusion and moreoever you are not doing justice to any sadhana or in surrendering to any Guru completely.

Hoewever it is wise to see the converging point, in all these different views, the source being one and the same, no matter wherever we go the Sun is the same, it does not change according to the paths and views.

Final Message: Stick to one path, one Guru. Ultimately it will be the same truth of all paths, just addressed in different words, and reached in different path and with different views. Realise your own truth!

--

I totally agree. But it is very difficult. Have you achieved this?

[Hari]

Dear Hari,

The world is existent (illusory existence) for an ajnani.  The world is only an appearance, temporary, and unreal for him.
That is why in deep sleep it disappears and comes again when the first thought "I" thought arises in a man.  But for
a Jnani the world is also real.  It is Brahma swarupam.  If a Jnani sees a person or a dog, he does not see them with
that particularity but as Brahma Swarupam only.  We have to move them from this unreal, temporary world, do self inquiry
and attain the Jnana Bodham and then we shall also see the world as Brahma Swarupam.

A river starts only from an ocean. But after running here and there for long distances, finally comes back only to Ocean.
Then you will see only the Ocean and not the river.  The ocean's waves are so called  particularities and even then it is only
an Ocean.

Ocean ---> rivers ---> Ocean 

This is what happens with us.  See the last verse of Sri Arunachala Ashtkam:

The waters rise up from the ocean as rain bearing clouds, and then fall as rain and run here and there and finally run back
to the ocean, in streams.  Nothing can keep them, from returning to the source. Likewise the individual sou rising up from
Thee (Se;f) cannot be kept away from joining the Thee (Self) again, although it turns many eddies on its way.  A bird which
rises from the earth and soars high into the sky can find no place for the rest in midair, but must return to earth.  So indeed
all must retrace their path, and when the soul finds the way back to its source, it will sink and be merged in Thee (Self),
O Arunachala, the Ocean of Bliss!

Arunachala Siva.                   

The point is the there are rivers, movement, change. This is the problem here. Here what Advaita teaches does not match my experience.

[Hari]

"I searched for God and found only myself.
I searched for myself and found only God".

Sufi Proverb

I love this Sufi thought.

[Jewell]

Yes,me too. It is very beautiful. It seems simple,but it is very profound.

[Hari]

I will watch again the interview with Ramesh Balsekar and will try to contemplate on what he has said. I have posted it in Bhajans, pics and so on, reply #306 for those interested.

[Nagaraj]

Dear Hari

Its nothing to achieve. Its simply adhering to what is truth. Seeing what is as what is. No matter what i read or where i go i am grounded in bhagavan ramana.

All teachings do not seem contrary to what bhagavan ramana has revealed.

Am no longer troubled by varieties and differences. I kn they are the same in the substratum. All becaue of His grace.

--

[Hari]

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. We do not discover the secret of our lives merely by study and calculation in our own isolated meditations. The meaning of our life is a secret that has to be revealed to us in love, by the one we love. And if this love is unreal, the secret will not be found, the meaning will never reveal itself, the message will never be decoded. At best, we will receive a scrambled and partial message, one that will deceive and confuse us. We will never be fully real until we let ourselves fall in love - either with another human person or with God."   
(Thomas Merton)

[Hari]

Today a question arised in me. What 'non-existence' would mean? What non-existence would be? What are the criteria for existence and non-existence? Is consciousness the only criteria for existence? If it is so then how to tell that we exist during deep sleep when we are unconscious? And what is unconsciousness? Is that just "lack of experience"? What do you think?

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Hari,

Non existence is a situation where an object or world or even a person is not existent all the time, eternally.  The object,
the world, and a person has a birth, life and death.  These are not eternal.  Whereas Consciousness is eternal and everpresent,
born, and non dying.

In sleep your thoughts disappear, mind disappears, the world disappears, the time and space concept
also disappear.  Still you say that you have  slept well, next morning.  This is state of being 'unconscious', though the
Self within you is ever there, without sleeping, ever vigilant.  Similarly during fainting and other temporary states where
mind is in suspended animation, you are still there, because Consciousness is within you. 

Arunachala Siva.         

[Hari]

Dear Hari,

Non existence is a situation where an object or world or even a person is not existent all the time, eternally.  The object,
the world, and a person has a birth, life and death.  These are not eternal.  Whereas Consciousness is eternal and everpresent,
born, and non dying.

In sleep your thoughts disappear, mind disappears, the world disappears, the time and space concept
also disappear.  Still you say that you have  slept well, next morning.  This is state of being 'unconscious', though the
Self within you is ever there, without sleeping, ever vigilant.  Similarly during fainting and other temporary states where
mind is in suspended animation, you are still there, because Consciousness is within you. 

Arunachala Siva.         

But how can we say that there is consciousness when there is unconsciousness? Where is this consciousness? And what is consciousness? Just being aware of an object. If it is so then nondual consciousness could not exist.

[sanjaya_ganesh]

Dear Hari,

Non existence is a situation where an object or world or even a person is not existent all the time, eternally.  The object,
the world, and a person has a birth, life and death.  These are not eternal.  Whereas Consciousness is eternal and everpresent,
born, and non dying.

In sleep your thoughts disappear, mind disappears, the world disappears, the time and space concept
also disappear.  Still you say that you have  slept well, next morning.  This is state of being 'unconscious', though the
Self within you is ever there, without sleeping, ever vigilant.  Similarly during fainting and other temporary states where
mind is in suspended animation, you are still there, because Consciousness is within you. 

Arunachala Siva.         

But how can we say that there is consciousness when there is unconsciousness? Where is this consciousness? And what is consciousness? Just being aware of an object. If it is so then nondual consciousness could not exist.

Hari

We may answer with an example. If you see Ganga in Rishikesh and upper reaches of Himalayas - you will see such purity (glass like water which tastes like nectar). You see the same Ganga after Varanasi - you will see dead bodies of all species floating, filth all around - nothing but filth. People who see Ganga in these parts will never believe even that water in ganges is actually so pure because it is covered by all filth. If we see this part of Ganga, we will ask - "Where is Ganga? This is a garbage canal".

Similarly when one by one Sat-chit-ananda gets covered by "filth" you see the huge variety between pure consciousness and pure jada / non-existence. I am not sure I understood your question fully - sorry if I have not. Just like all examples trying to convey satchidananda this is not a matching example because nothing can in fact cover it and what covers it is also IT alone

Swami Vivenkananda says that if you analyze even a grain of sand - you will end your analysis in Sat-chit-ananda. At least the modern science has now reached a state that everything is energy and there is no matter really - it is all energy. If you can go this far, it is not too difficult to cross over to the understanding of pure consciousness as everything.

Truth is that there is no unconsciousness / non existence because if it were there - then we are talking duality...

Sanjay.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Hari,

If you sleep or swoon, the unconsciousness is for the body and mind.  Consciousness is there even at that time. Otherwise,
how can you say after getting up, that you had slept nicely or 'Where was I all during this time?' (after coming out of swoon).

Arunachala Siva. 

[Hari]

The question is what consciousness is? Some example, please.

[sanjaya_ganesh]

The question is what consciousness is? Some example, please.

Dear Hari

When asked about this, Dakshinamoorthy HIMSELF answered with Silence - so do you think we the forum members can answer this ? Only Neti-Neti can answer this. Remove everything that you "think" is not consciousness - and see for yourself what remains.

Sanjay