Advaita Vedanta

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: in self-realisation there is no perception of a body, mind or world | Ajata | Advaita Vedanta | Maya and illusion

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

The following quotes are all from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (NM), taken from the book ‘I Am That’ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

NM gave many different teachings, depending on the level of the seeker and the context. The ego-mind often clings to the lower teachings for safety and security – here only the higher teachings are included, so please only read the following if you have a deep and sincere interest in liberation.

If you read carefully, you will see the following themes stated and expounded by NM:

  1. The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of having a body.
  2. The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of a world or phenomena arising.
  3. The apparent consciousness of the world is only due to ignorance, also known as the ‘I thought’ or the ‘I am the body sense’. This ignorance is also known as ‘imagination’, ‘illusion’, ‘ego’ or ‘the mind’.
  4. Ignorance of what you truly are projects the (false) appearance of a world, which includes the appearance of the body-mind and world. These do not appear to a jnani.
  5. All conversation, teachings, words and thoughts are in illusion only, as are all teachers. Similarly, birth and death only (appear to) exist for the ignorant.

These are of course the Ajata teachings, and you can read about them here in this article and also in the introductory articles on the tomdas.com homepage.

Some may say that this notion of liberation is not appealing at all (for the ego-mind), but of course it is actually everything you are looking for and more. It is the treasure found within, this is the ‘kingdom of God’ within us. Anything less and the seeking, the doubts and the sense of ego will not end, and so suffering and duality will continue; hence the value of these teachings in reminding us to continue to go further with our sadhana until all objective phenomena have dissolved rather than stop prematurely.

Many of these quotes below are also found in the wonderful book The Seven Steps to Awakening, one of the best books ever written on self-realisation and liberation. This book goes much further than this article and clearly describes other aspects of the teaching including the method by which self-realisation can be attained.

Here are the quotes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:

The body and mind are only symptoms of ignorance, of misapprehension.

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He who knows the state in which there is neither the world nor the thought of it, he is the Supreme Teacher.

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What do you know of me, when even my talk with you is in your world only?

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NM: The body appears in your mind; in my mind nothing is.
Q: Do you mean to say you are quite unconscious of having a body?
NM: On the contrary, I am conscious of not having a body.
Q: I see you smoking!
NM: Exactly so. You see me smoking. Find out for yourself how did you come to see me smoking, and you will easily realize that it is your ‘I am the body’ state of mind that is responsible for this ‘I see you smoking’ idea.

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Nothing dies. The body is just imagined. There is no such thing.

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In my world nothing happens

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Without imagination there is no world.

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If you seek real happiness, unassailable and unchangeable, you must leave the world with its pains and pleasures behind you.

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You are neither the body nor in the body – there is no such thing as body

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NM: My world is real, while yours is made of dreams
Q: Yet we are talking.
NM: The talk is in your world. In mine – there is eternal silence. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. You cannot know my world until you are there.

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It is not at all as you imagine and I am not bound by your imaginings.

——-

Q. If all that passes has no being, then the universe has no being either
NM: Who ever denies it? Of course the universe has no being.

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In reality, nothing ever happens.

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No doubt imagination is richly creative. Universe within universe are built on it. Yet they are all in space and time, past and future, which just do not exist.

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In pure consciousness nothing ever happens

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The moment you allow your imagination to spin, it at once spins out a universe.

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There is no body, nor a world to contain it; there is only a mental condition, a dreamlike state, easy to dispel by questioning its reality.

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All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me.

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To take appearance for reality is a grievous sin and the cause of all calamities

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It is by your consent that the world exists. Withdraw your belief in its reality and it will dissolve like a dream.

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What is real is nameless and formless.

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Do understand that what you think to be the world is your own mind

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I take my stand where no difference exists, where things are not, nor the minds that create them. There I am at home.

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All thinking is in duality. In identity [Tom: ie. self realisation] no thought surives

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Now go within, into a state in which you may compare to a state of waking sleep, in which you are aware of yourself, but not of the world. In that state you will know, without the least trace of doubt, that at the root of your being you are free and happy.

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To know yourself, turn your attention away from the world and turn it within.

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The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.

——-

To see what Sri Ramana Maharshi thought of the same Ajata teachings please see this article here.

This article here also goes into what Shankara wrote on these Ajata teachings.

Tejobindu Upanishad: what is Jivanmukti?

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

CHAPTER – IV

The Kumara asked the great Lord: “Please explain to me the nature of Jivanmukti and Videhamukti.” To which the great Shiva replied:

1. “I am Chidatma. I am Para-Atma. I am the Nirguna, greater than the great. One who will simply stay in Atman is called a Jivanmukta.

2. He who realises: ‘I am beyond the three bodies, I am the pure consciousness and I am Brahman’, is said to be a Jivanmukta.

3. He is said to be a Jivanmukta, who realises: ‘I am of the nature of the blissful and of the supreme bliss, and I have neither body nor any other thing except the certitude ‘I am Brahman’ only.

4-6. He is said to be a Jivanmukta who has not at all got the ‘I’ in myself, but who stays in Chinmatra (absolute consciousness) alone, whose interior is consciousness alone, who is only of the nature of Chinmatra, whose Atman is of the nature of the all-full, who has Atman left over in all, who is devoted to bliss, who is undifferentiated, who is all-full of the nature of consciousness, whose Atman is of the nature of pure consciousness, who has given up all affinities (for objects), who has unconditioned bliss, whose Atman is tranquil, who has got no other thought (than Itself) and who is devoid of the thought of the existence of anything.

7-11(a). He is said to be a Jivanmukta who realises: ‘I have no Chitta [mind], no Buddhi [intellect], no Ahamkara [ego, sense of doership and enjoyership], no senses, no body at any time, no Pranas, no Maya, no passion and no anger, I am the great, I have nothing of these objects or of the world and I have no sin, no characteristics, no eye, no Manas [mind], no ear, no nose, no tongue, no hand, no waking, no dreaming, or causal state in the least or the fourth state.’

~ Tejobindu Upanishad

Tom: Tejo means radiant; Bindu means point (or drop)

Q: Why is it necessary for the mind to die? | Lakshmana Swamy | Ramana Maharshi

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

Q: Why is it necessary for the mind to die?

Lakshmana Swamy [a devotee of Ramana Maharshi]: The mind must die, there is no other way to realize the Self. Some people say that complete equanimity of mind is Self realization, but this is not true. This is only a stage one passes through on the way to Self-realization. Other people say that seeing the Self or God everywhere is Self-realization, but this idea is not true either. To see the Self everywhere there must be an “I” who sees, and while that “I” exists the mind will also exist. The jnani does not see anything because the seeing entity in him has died. In the Self there is no seeing, only being. When the mind still exists one can reach a stage where one can see the whole world as a manifestation of the Self, but when the mind dies, there is no one who sees the world and no world to be seen.

If you have a mind then the earth, the sky and the stars will exist and you will be able to see them. When the mind dies there will be no earth, no sky, no stars and no world. The world of objects, names and forms is only the mind, and when the mind dies, the world dies with it. Only the Self then remains.

Seeing everything as the Self gives the impression that the Self is equally distributed everywhere. This is also an idea in the mind. When the mind finally dies you realize that there is no distribution and no everywhere.

SHANKARA – WHY YOU NEED TO COMPLETELY STILL THE MIND FOR LIBERATION

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

[Tom: The following verses were written by Sri Shankara. First he explains that the entire universe is a projection of the mind, and then he will go on to explain that this projection veils the self and therefore needs to be removed in total silence of the mind, also known as self-knowledge or nirvikalpa samadhi:]

170. In dreams, when there is no actual contact with the external world, the mind alone creates the whole universe consisting of the experiencer etc. Similarly in the waking state also; there is no difference. Therefore all this (phenomenal universe) is the projection of the mind.

342. Even wise men cannot suddenly destroy egoism after it has once become strong, barring those who are perfectly calm through the Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Desires are verily the effect of innumerable births.

344. …But the victory is undoubtedly (complete and) free from obstacles when there is no oscillation of the mind due to the unreal sense-objects.

[Tom: The term Samadhi refers to a state of mind that is completely stilled but also aware and not asleep, it is attained only through self-enquiry and is synonymous with self-knowledge (Jnana):]

353. When the Atman, the One without a second, is realised by means of the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, then the heart’s knot of ignorance is totally destroyed.

354. Such imaginations as “thou”, “I” or “this” take place through the defects of the Buddhi. But when the Paramatman, the Absolute, the One without a second, manifests Itself in Samadhi, all such imaginations are dissolved for the aspirant, through the realisation of the truth of Brahman.

355. The Sannyasin, calm, self-controlled, perfectly retiring from the sense-world, forbearing, and devoting himself to the practice of Samadhi, always reflects on his own self being the Self of the whole universe. Destroying completely by this means the imaginations which are due to the gloom of ignorance, he lives blissfully as Brahman, free from action and the oscillations of the mind.

[Tom: Shankara again stresses the importance of Samadhi, stating those alone are free or liberated.]

356.Those alone are free from the bondage of transmigration who, attaining Samadhi, have merged the objective world, the sense-organs, the mind, nay, the very ego, in the Atman, the Knowledge Absolute – and none else, who but dabble in second-hand talks.

[Tom: The above verse is a rendering of a verse from the Amritabindu Upanishad]

357. Through the diversity of the supervening conditions (Upadhis), a man is apt to think of himself as also full of diversity; but with the removal of these he is again his own Self, the immutable. Therefore the wise man should ever devote himself to the practice of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, for the dissolution of the Upadhis.

[Tom: Again, Shankara uses the word ‘only’ to drive home the importance of Samadhi:]

360. The truth of the Paramatman is extremely subtle, and cannot be reached by the gross outgoing tendency of the mind. It is only accessible to noble souls with perfectly pure minds, by means of Samadhi brought on by an extraordinary fineness of the mental state.

361. As gold purified by thorough heating on the fire gives up its impurities and attains to its own lustre, so the mind, through meditation, gives up its impurities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, and attains to the reality of Brahman.

[Tom: Nirvikalpa Samadhi refers to the complete absence of ‘mind waves’ or modifications of consciousness, in which there is only pure awareness or consciousness present devoid of thoughts and perceptions. Again and again Shankara states that it is Samadhi of the Nirvikalpa variety (ie. no thoughts and no objects) that leads directly to self-realisation:]

362. When the mind, thus purified by constant practice, is merged in Brahman, then Samadhi passes on from the Savikalpa to the Nirvikalpa stage, and leads directly to the realisation of the Bliss of Brahman, the One without a second.

363. By this Samadhi are destroyed all desires which are like knots, all work is at an end, and inside and out there takes place everywhere and always the spontaneous manifestation of one’s real nature.

[Tom: How much clearer can Shankara make the case for the essential practice of Nirvikalpa Samadhi?]

364. Reflection should be considered a hundred times superior to hearing, and meditation a hundred thousand times superior even to reflection, but the Nirvikalpa Samadhi is infinite in its results.

[Tom: Shankara continues to stress the importance of the thoughtless aware state of samadhi, or, to put it more simply, being still of mind:]

365. By the Nirvikalpa Samadhi the truth of Brahman is clearly and definitely realised, but not otherwise, for then the mind, being unstable by nature, is apt to be mixed up with other perceptions.

398. When the mind-functions are merged in the Paramatman, the Brahman, the Absolute, none of this phenomenal world is seen.

[Tom: the Jnani does not see the phenomenal world]

407. This apparent universe has its root in the mind, and never persists after the mind is annihilated. Therefore dissolve the mind by concentrating it on the Supreme Self, which is thy inmost Essence.

408. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is something of the nature of eternal Knowledge and absolute Bliss, which has no exemplar, which transcends all limitations, is ever free and without activity, and which is like the limitless sky, indivisible and absolute.

409. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is devoid of the ideas of cause and effect, which is the Reality beyond all imaginations, homogeneous, matchless, beyond the range of proofs, established by the pronouncements of the Vedas, and ever familiar to us as the sense of the ego.

410. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is undecaying and immortal, the positive Entity which precludes all negations, which resembles the placid ocean and is without a name, in which there are neither merits nor demerits, and which is eternal, pacified and One.

411. With the mind restrained in Samadhi, behold in thy self the Atman, of infinite glory, cut off thy bondage strengthened by the impressions of previous births, and carefully attain the consummation of thy birth as a human being.

[Tom: Shankara again makes it clear that when he speaks of Samadhi, he is speaking of that aware state in which there are no objects or ‘limiting adjuncts’ present:]

412. Meditate on the Atman, which resides in thee, which is devoid of all limiting adjuncts [Tom: ie. objects], the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, the One without a second, and thou shalt no more come under the round of births and deaths.

[Tom: Manonasa (destruction of the mind), a synonym for moksha, is declared by this scripture. As Shankara has already explained that the mind projects the entire world as well as thoughts, this means, and you will see this if you read the verses carefully, that no thoughts or phenomenal objects appear in the self in truth:]

481. My mind has vanished, and all its activities have melted, by realising the identity of the Self and Brahman; I do not know either this or not-this; nor what or how much the boundless Bliss (of Samadhi) is

502. How can there be merits and demerits for me, who am without organs, without mind, changeless, and formless – who am the realisation of Bliss Absolute? The Shruti also mentions this in the passage “Not touched”, etc.!

~ All the above verses were written by Sri Shankara, taken from his masterpiece ‘Vivekachudamani’

THE ENTIRE NON-DUAL ‘PATH’ EXPLAINED

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

The entire path to liberation is explained here in this text called The Path of Sri Ramana, which you can download for free here:

The entire path explained: the Path of Sri Ramana (Parts 1 and 2; PDF downloads)

If you read it carefully, all the teachings are there for you. Nothing else is needed. However many, for some reason, do not read it clearly and do not understand the teachings. Their mind skips over key sentences and paragraphs. Their ego or minds will not allow them to see what is clearly written on the page! I have come across many seekers like this!

So, even more detail is given and the teachings are further explained here, in this very slim text called Sadhanai Saram, which means ‘the essence of the spiritual practice’, also available for free download:

The entire path explained: the Path of Sri Ramana (Parts 1 and 2; PDF downloads)

Even though everything is clearly spelt out, some people for some reason still don’t understand the teachings! Their minds will not let them read the words plainly and interpret them correctly! Their egos reinterpret the words according to their own views – in that case you should read this text too, The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss’:

The Most Direct Means To Eternal Bliss by Michael Langford

Of course the true teaching can never be fully given in a book or in words, but these are great pointers nonetheless – they are some of the best texts on liberation ever written imho.

🙏🙏🙏

Does the body give rise to consciousness or consciousness give rise to the body? | Advaita Vedanta | Non-Duality

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Fact: as long as the body continues to appear in your experience, you will never be 100% sure if it is the body that gives rise to consciousness, or (eternal unchanging) consciousness that gives rise to the body.

This is why all the great sages have advocated the need to turn inwards, away from all sense objects thoughts and phenomena, for deep and total silence of mind and thoughts, so the true nature of what you are can be intuited (without the mind or body or sense objects/world being present), and in this way the birthless deathless eternal and changing self can be realised (again, without the mind. Realisation is not for the mind or by the person).

🙏

THE POWER AND NATURE OF THOUGHT | Law of Attraction | Advaita | Non-Duality

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

It is open for everybody to discover, when the mind is very still and turned inwards towards the sense ‘I’, which is not a thought, that it is thought that gives rise to the body and is there prior to the body and what we usually call the mind.

The first thought is the ‘I thought’, and it precedes the creation of the body.

Just as we commonly conceive that the mind projects a dream, it is actually the ‘I thought’ that gives rise to or projects the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. These three states together with the ‘I thought’ are all unreal and illusory, and these must all go for liberation to occur and our true nature to be intuited or realised.

The ‘I thought’ is also known by various other names, such as ignorance, ego, original sin, Maya, the devil, delusion, Brahma, Isvara, ‘the first act of creation’ and the mind to name a few.

This is what is being shared here.

🙏❤️

Shankara: the body and mind are symptoms of ignorance | Advaita Vedanta | Nisargadatta Maharaj

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Sri Shankara, both in his commentaries and in his shorter works, often writes that the body and mind are symptoms (or effects) of ignorance, and when ignorance goes, the symptoms or effects of ignorance also go.

He also writes that the body, mind and world can never have any connection whatsoever with What You Truly Are, the Self, Pure Consciousness – and that only through ignorance can a connection between the two appear to be there.

eg. In Vivekachudamani Shankara writes:

195. But for delusion there can be no connection of the Self – which is unattached, beyond activity and formless – with the objective world, as in the case of blueness etc., with reference to the sky.

196. The Jivahood of the Atman, the Witness, which is beyond qualities and beyond activity, and which is realised within as Knowledge and Bliss Absolute – has been superimposed by the delusion of the Buddhi, and is not real. And because it is by nature an unreality, it ceases to exist when the delusion is gone.

197. It exists only so long as the delusion lasts, being caused by indiscrimination due to an illusion. The rope is supposed to be the snake only so long as the mistake lasts, and there is no more snake when the illusion has vanished. Similar is the case here.

198-199. Avidya or Nescience and its effects are likewise considered as beginningless. But with the rise of Vidya or realisation, the entire effects of Avidya, even though beginningless, are destroyed together with their root – like dreams on waking up from sleep. It is clear that the phenomenal universe, even though without beginning, is not eternal – like previous non-existence.

200-201. Previous non-existence, even though beginningless, is observed to have an end. So the Jivahood which is imagined to be in the Atman through its relation with superimposed attributes such as the Buddhi, is not real; whereas the other (the Atman) is essentially different from it. The relation between the Atman and the Buddhi is due to a false knowledge.

202. The cessation of that superimposition takes place through perfect knowledge, and by no other means. Perfect knowledge, according to the Shrutis, consists in the realisation of the identity of the individual soul and Brahman.

205. When the unreal ceases to exist, this very individual soul is definitely realised as the eternal Self. Therefore one must make it a point completely to remove things like egoism from the eternal Self.

Here Sri Nisargadatta also says the same: