Tom’s comments:
Liberation or self knowledge is not for the mind or for the person or for the body mind entity.
There is no separate entity that can be liberated or exist in liberation.
There is no separate person who could know the self.
The self figuratively speaking ‘knows’ itself. This is self-knowledge
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For seekers, the qualities in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs can be sought in the world, in Maya, and within, in the Heart, through self inquiry. For most of us, it’s usually a combination of the two. Tom supports us in both. But perhaps, what we are truly seeking in the pyramid can only be solidly actualized where it truly exists.
This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on April 3rd, 2025, and put together by volunteers.
To download full unedited satsang recordings see here: https://payhip.com/tomdas
To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events
If you are genuinely interested in liberation, chances are you are going for gold. Bronze and silver are not enough for you. After listening to this video, what do you think? Are you going for gold?
Please comment and or ask questions if inspired by these conversations and Tom’s responses.
The book sited in this video is The Direct Means To Eternal Bliss or The Most Direct Means To Eternal Bliss (the same book, different titles) by Michael Langford.
This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on December 5, 2024 and put together by volunteers.
To download full unedited satsang recordings see here: https://payhip.com/tomdas
To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events
Many erroneously think liberation is mere understanding in the mind ‘I am That’ or the ability to discern the difference (viveka) between what is lasting (nitya) and what is temporary (anitya), and thereby know in the mind that you are That which is lasting, and the temporary depends on you.
Sri Ramana Maharshi, completely in line with the vedanta scriptures, explains that Jnana or Liberation is nothing of the kind – it is not mere intellectual understanding or thoughts or discernment (viveka) in the mind, although this may be a useful precursor.
Here are two verses that Sri Ramana wrote himself:
‘Cease all talk of ‘I’ and search with inward diving mind whence the thought of ‘I’ springs up. This is the way of knowledge. To think, instead, ‘I am not this, but That I am,’ is helpful in the search, but it is not the search itself.’
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality), Verse 29
‘When the Vedas have declared, ‘Thou art That’ – not to seek and find the nature of the Self and abide in It, but to think ‘I am That, not This’ is want [ie. lack] of strength. Because, That abides forever as the Self.’
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality), Verse 32
If this is a new or strange teaching for you, please explore the recommended reading list here to understand these teachings in full.
In the Amritabindu Upanishad Jnana is defined as follows in verse 5:
‘The mind severed from all connection with sensual objects, and prevented from functioning out, awakes into the light of the heart, and finds the highest condition. The mind should be prevented from functioning, until it dissolves itself in the heart. This is Jnana, this is Dhyana, the rest is all mere concoction of untruth.’
Some people think I selectively quote merely to prove my own point, but note that this above verse was also quoted to make this very same point by Swami Vidyaranya (1296-1386), author of the wonderful Advaita Vedanta text Panchadasi and Shankaracharya (head monk and preserver of Advaita Vedanta) of Sringeri Math, in his work Jivanmukti Viveka.
Sri Gaudapada wrote the following in his commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, explaining how in liberation no mind exists:
3.32 When the Truth of Atman has been realised, the mind ceases to think; then the mind attains the state of not being the mind. In the absence of things to be perceived, it becomes a non-perceiver.
Shankara gives his commentary on this verse 3.31 explaining how the entire phenomenal existence is dependent on the mind and how mind is stilled or stopped in liberation, agreeing with Gaudapada above:
‘This duality as a whole, that is mano-drsyam, perceived by the mind; is nothing but the mind, which is itself imagined – this is the proposition [Tom: ie. meaning of the verse]. For duality endures so long as the mind does, and disappears with the disappearance of the mind.
‘For when the mind ceases to be mind when, like the illusory snake disappearing in the rope, the mind’s activity stops through the practice of discriminating insight and detachment, or when the mind gets absorbed in the state of sleep, duality is not perceived. From this non-existence is proved the unreality of duality. This is the purport. How does the mind cease to be the mind? This is being answered [in the next verse and commentary]’
The rest of the text continues in this manner.
We see the same teaching in Shankara’s masterpiece Vivekachudamani which explains all the teachings given in Shankara’s various commentaries in a much clearer form. Here is verse 169 where he equates the mind with ignorance:
169. There is no Ignorance (Avidya) outside the mind. The mind alone is Avidya, the cause of the bondage of transmigration. When that is destroyed, all else is destroyed, and when it is manifested, everything else is manifested.
Then he states the world is but an illusion projected by the mind, like a dream, essentially equating the mind with maya:
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.
Shankara then warns the seeker to stay away from the mind:
176. In the forest-tract of sense-pleasures there prowls a huge tiger called the mind. Let good people who have a longing for Liberation never go there.
Shankara teaches us that the mind eventually must die (manonasa, a traditional synonym of self-realisation), and the method of how this is achieved:
277. The Yogi’s mind dies, being constantly fixed on his own Self.
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.
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.!
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This was originally post on Facebook here
1. Seeking will necessarily continue until the ego is completely destroyed. You cannot simply chose to stop seeking or ‘let go of seeking’. THE EFFECTS WILL BE TEMPORARY AT BEST, and this is ultimately dissatisfactory. Seeking (and its counterpart, suffering) will always come back until ego is completely gone. That’s just the way it is. There will always be a sense of lack until the self is discovered.
2. And ego is not destroyed by trying to destroy the ego… Your true nature prior to the arising of ego (ie. source) must be discovered, and the ego ends as a side effect of this discovery of truth.
3. Only when ego is completely destroyed in this way, is it then seen that the ego never existed in the first place. Ego never arose at all! The world (which is a projection of ego, and is also known as duality) never came into existence at all, not even as an appearance! (Why would anyone want this? Because it is heaven, because it is bliss, because it is what you are truly seeking for and have always been seeking for. It is total love, it is your own true self.)
4. Merely saying ‘there is already no such thing as ego’, without having truly discovered the formless objectless worldless Source-Subject-Self, doesn’t work to genuinely end seeking or genuinely end suffering. This is merely an empty proclamation for the mind.
5. This discovery of your true nature is never for the mind (or the body, or the body-mind). Mind is the same as ego. Ego is the same as mind. There is literally no difference. If the discovery is for the mind, suffering may be reduced, but suffering and seeking will still persist on a subtle level until the self is truly known, devoid of thought, devoid of mind.
6. If realisation is for the mind or in the mind, then you are still on the level of seeking, and the true formless self, the source of all, the subject, is yet to be truly discovered – you are still a seeker. The general advice here is to find a teacher, learn the genuine method of self-enquiry and put the teaching into practice.
7. Without a teacher it is very difficult for most to truly learn self-enquiry, which cannot usually be taught from books or from static words, but is transmitted in a variety of ways, including through the well-timed words/interactions of a teacher and through the silence and the presence of the sage. For some the technique can be revealed by simply going/sinking within, towards the I AM (which is the true or ultimate teacher), away from objective phenomena, but this seems to be very rare. The exact path to self-inquiry and self-realiaation (or self-knowledge) for each apparent individual person varies greatly, and so for most a teacher is necessary, or at least very helpful.
8. ‘To know the (worldless objectless) self, is merely to be the (worldless objectless) self.’
9. Eternal love, adoration and gratitude to my beloved guru and teacher, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, who is truly the nature of my very own Self, residing in the Heart of all beings, whose radiant presence shines forth in all times and in all places, whose teachings can be discovered by simply turning within and searching within, and who has revealed these teachings to me both in his precious words and within my Heart.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om
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This video was excerpted from the Satsang dated 1st August 2024:
Tom Das 