6. The jewel of knowledge

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P: What is the peak of wisdom? It is not understanding; is to carry out what is understood. Understanding must be translated into a simple gesture that summarizes a whole journey, a simple act of abandonment and loss of the Self, Individuality, in the Absolute. Thus, the Jewel of Knowledge is the act of self-extinction that the "I Am" must carry out when understanding its non-existence. Understanding implicitly involves knowing what to do, how to eliminate oneself in order to let the Absolute shine for Himself in this body, and fulfill, in this way, what is known as Realization. Jnani is one who dissolves or has dissolved in the Absolute; It is not a Jnani who, through viveka, discrimination, reaches conclusions about what is or is not the "non-state". Many of those who call themselves that are abandoned to intermediate dream states, such as the state of "drowsiness", hypnotic, trance or semi-coma states, believing that these mental states are Turya. All these illusory states occur in the upper part of the body, in the head. The Consciousness of I is located there, its Center is mental and it is a very common mistake to submerge in it by altering Consciousness and giving way to altered states that are taken as real while they are completely unreal. Turya, known as the Fourth State, has nothing to do with the other three mental states that arise when the Consciousness "I Am" or Individuality appears in the body. Turya is independent and implies having reached the Center of Being, and displaces the Consciousness of the upper body, an evident sign that all mental action has been stopped and the Individuality uprooted.

Q: Parameshwar, Ramana Maharshi said that to enter Turya one had to "fall asleep consciously".

P: Yes, but this way of acting can only be done by those who already know Turya, otherwise, when trying to do this without having reached the non-state, it ends up being trapped in an intermediate dream state, when it does not end completely asleep, therefore, it is useless to follow this path for those who do not know how to dissolve. One can not go against the nature of the mind without having attained the knowledge of self-dissolution. When one dissolves in practice, the oneiric mental states are traversed, appearing the non-state by itself. The Center of Being is drawing towards Yes, as one goes disappearing as "I Am", and it is the Heart (or Center of Being) that prevents it from falling into the illusory states reaching the Sahaja Samadhi.

Q: After reading one and another Teacher, it is not very clear to me what the Realization of the Self is. Could you explain it a little?

P: Sure! Thus, above, the Teaching consists of two stages only. The first stage is given from the ego to the "I Am" and the second is from the "I Am" to the Absolute. Consciousness embraces the "I Am" and the ego. The ego is the "I Am" identified with the body thanks to the mind, that is total illusion. The Consciousness I Am knows itself, does not identify with the body and is not confused and false identity. "I Am" is able to stop all mental activity, enter the state of no-mind. Some call this the Realization of the Self. The "I Am" Consciousness is what the scriptures call the Atman, while the ego is the Jiva. The Absolute is beyond the Atman and is calling Paramatman or Parabrahman.

Q: When Ramana Maharshi says that with Vichara (self-inquiry) the I-I in the Heart arises, what do you mean?

P: The Heart is the Being, and the "I-I" is the Consciousness of Me, which is in the Being. It is in the Heart that the I-I must dissolve as Atman so that the Paramatman comes out. This "I Am" Consciousness is Himself; since the Absolute has no consciousness of Being, can not be called the Self, this meaning points to an Individuality. When a Teacher pushes you to "be" it pushes you to "be yourself", to be conscious of Yourself, that is, to be the I-I, but for that you must take the first step, transcend the ego consciousness. Stabilizing in the Self is Being the "I Am." This level is beyond the bustle of the mind. With a simple gesture of return to Himself it transcends all mental activity, that is to say, the thoughts stop and the Consciousness takes the first plane of existence, the present, the Here and Now, is the highest point of consciousness of vigil that can be reached; However, the "I Am" is subject to the three states: "I Am". Individuality dissolves in deep sleep and this happens because it is not the Last State. When it arises from the deep sleep everything arises again and no transformation takes place, the vasanas remain in place, nothing changes with this dissolution, therefore, there is no Realization. I already say, some call enlightenment by remaining as the Self.

Q: There is a well-known Master who says: "Enlightenment is a total void of the mind. There is nothing you can do to get it. Any effort you make can only be an obstruction to it. " What can you tell us about this?

P: The Buddha made it very clear to us that Nirvana is the loss of Individuality. You have to be very careful with the wildcard phrases. The mind can be "emptied" in many ways, the same presence "I Am" does it, and that is not Enlightenment, it is transcending the consciousness of I; Pure Consciousness is Enlightenment, and it is pure because there is no identity. The mind is not a container, therefore to speak of empty mind is an incorrect concept, if I had said that Illumination is a state of non-identity I would have said the right thing, in fact, the Identity "I Am" is the state of No -Mind. "I Am" is mind without thoughts and without other function.

Q: Therefore, that phrase does not point to a reality, right?

P: No! It's just a pretty phrase, but it does not fit reality.

Q: From what you say, Enlightenment is to go beyond Individuality. Is not this the mind?

P: What is mind is the egoic "I", the false individuality that arises from the identification with the form, the physical body. Upon this false individuality the mind constructs its own world that collapses, that dissipates as smoke, when the Consciousness "I Am", the Principle of Individuality, is Consciousness, is Being. The mind is only the consequence of the appearance of this I-Yo Consciousness, which KNOWS that it is not the body and yet is enslaved to it.

Q: So, what role does the Absolute play here?

P: It does not play any role. Everything that happens, happens in Him. To put it in some way. He is the container of all this Game. Enlightenment, no one can experience it, because the Absolute is not an entity. When Enlightenment happens, the one who knows what has happened is the Atman and knows it by his "disappearance". In this matter the mind has nothing to do, except that she takes charge of what happened objectifying and conceptualizing. But it is always "I Am" that uses the mind as a tool to translate into Knowledge what has just happened. Anyone who has "disappeared" recognizes everything that I mention here.

Q: Can you live without a mind?

P: Yes, of course! He who has consolidated Consciousness "I Am" as his natural state, lives without a mind. This type of man is free from the ego. He is a Guru who points the finger at the Self, and the one who has transcended the "I Am" is a Satguru, who points the finger at the Absolute.

Living without mind is to stay in the direct Knowledge, you know without using the tool of the mind. The Guru knows he has to take one last step and this is his extinction.

Q: Consolidate does not require effort?

P: If you like cakes, is it an effort to eat them?

[laughter]

Q: No, it does not really take any effort!

P: Well in the same way you have to act to consolidate. You do it because you know you have to do it and you do not complicate your life doing it. This attitude does not require any effort.

I: I understand.

P: We are used to doing things for something, with intention. If you want to reach the state "I Am" we do not understand the action without effort, that's why the result never comes. We make the effort to understand, organize and classify everything, but not understand that things come by themselves. In your mind you plan the achievement of a project, you take care of the details to the maximum, but when it comes to putting it into practice you find that you have to fight, to achieve your goal, against unforeseen events. In the end, everything is like flipping a coin: face, the project is a success and you have achieved what you proposed, you are a great maker of your life; cross, curse your bad luck. One is a possessor, a doer, etc., but he curses his bad luck because he is unable to reach the state of "I Am," and that is that "divine" things are not related to "human" things, and that is what that one does not understand, therefore, one must change his view of "divine" things. The problem is how to do it, right? All the questions one can ask about it are solved in one answer: "Be! and eat the cake without effort ".

Q: It is to this attitude that this Master refers to in the second part of his sentence.

P: Exactly! It should not be confused with "passivity" because if we do not go to the other end of the issue, receiving the same results.

Q: The middle term, perhaps?

P: No! An intelligent posture is what is required. And do not ask me how to be smart, the cake you should eat yourself, nobody should chew for you.

[laughter]

P: What I want you to understand is that by applying your intellect on what you hear you are forcing failure. When you enter the maze of concepts, you run the risk of eclipsing reality. Look, this whole issue that surrounds us is extremely simple, but when you start to give names is when you create the differences between teachings. For Buddhists everything is Mind; for the advaitines, everything is Consciousness, so, more than one discussion would be between scholars, and yet the Masters would remain silent.

Q: All the illuminated point to the same point, whether Nirvana, Enlightenment, Realization, the Father ... and it is true that erudition can lead to controversy. I understand what you point out to us, that's why they say that knowledge is still ignorance, is not it?

P: Exactly. The human being spends his life acquiring knowledge to hide his ignorance, and the more knowledge he acquires, the safer he feels about himself while the hunger for knowledge becomes more intense. While in this game, there is little chance of transcending it, it is like an addiction created by the mind.

Q: When is it born and when does all this dissipate?

P: I will expose the subject in a general way, without possible details. Once the mind has been developed, and barely created the image of oneself and personality, the individual, when compared with other personalities, realizes that he is ignorant, that in relation to others his degree of knowledge is scarce, That awareness creates a great tension and at least begins to assume topics, archetypes, concepts of others by imitation. By assuming this position, the individual ceases to be himself. This is a possible beginning of a story that ends when the individual is known about "I Am", grows and matures in this state. This state is sacred compared to the ego, but it is something to transcend and discard to go towards the real nature, the Absolute. All this knowledge-ignorance game is highly valued by the ego-consciousness, it includes everything that the individual has value, including the teachings and their differences. It is because of this that one becomes advaitin, Shivaite, Buddhist, Christian, etc. The Mind is the creator of differences in its intellect form.

Q: When the mind-intellect is transcended, then it is when one sees clearly, but is the mind still necessary as a tool in the state of "I Am"?

P: An individual in the mature "I Am" state, that is, when this state is permanent in him, is a continuous "look" that directly observes the object and automatically becomes aware. I mean, I look at a personality as the Witness that is and there is no predetermined judgment about the nature of the observed personality; the knowledge that seizes him is by awareness, not by the use of his mind. Look and know, direct movement whereas if the mind is used, knowledge is a supposition. I do not know if I'm explaining myself well.

Q: You mean that the consciousness "I Am" has a colorless look, by that phrase that "everything is the color one looks at" and the mind looks according to the color of its concepts. That is what I understood.

P: Perfect, that's right. The mind is relative while consciousness is objective. Of course I am talking about a very advanced and mature "I am", already free from the image of the personality and the complexity of the intellect. An "I Am" is thus free of the differences between teachings, it has its eyes fixed on the Origin of Stillness, Peace and Silence that it is capable of experiencing and that are not its property. He knows that he must disappear so that the Absolute comes out. This type of knowledge is what is known in the West as the Christ Consciousness, the "I Am" has acquired the Jewel of Knowledge; The summit of knowledge is to realize that the Individuality that is being surplus and hinders. I speak to you this way even when I know in advance that you will turn everything into conceptual knowledge. This Jewel is an attitude, a way of being in life, this Knowledge governs all movement of Individuality and arises when nothing external attracts attention and interest.

Q: Is the call of the Absolute, the result of Grace?

P: Grace is always acting, you just have to be alert to it. From the point of view of the Absolute nothing is real, everything is illusory, but within the illusion there are gradations, levels of knowledge, hence the old image of the Ladder and that each occupies a rung. For the Realized One who knows that everything is the Absolute, none of this has any value, not even the four qualities that an individual must gather to attain Enlightenment. When a Sage tells the ignorant "You are already the Absolute," he is creating the strongest tension that a seeker can suffer, the ignorant has only two options: resolve or abandon. The Sage confronts him with the core of ignorance, because it is evident that he does not see the truth of the Sage reflected in himself, therefore, the search is an obligation. This search in itself is the call of the Absolute. The Search is real for the ignorant who is fully in the game Knowledge-Ignorance: "I do not know, then I must learn!". This thought makes your heart be in a fist. The search is a great tension in the life of the individual who is continually faced with ignorance. He begins to resolve as soon as he realizes that he is consciousness.

Q: While one does not realize that it is consciousness, the search can be a true suffering.

P: Yes! Due to the genuine desire of the true seeker. An unsatisfied desire is suffering.

Q: Are there techniques to dissolve in the Absolute?

P: No! Dissolution always comes by Understanding. Techniques, exercises, etc., belong to the domain of the ego. To "do" something to be overcome is up to him.

Q: Can an ego jump directly into dissolution? I mean, can you skip the stage of "I Am"?

P: Imagination can say yes, but practice says no. To dissolve you have to know what to dissolve. The force of the Illusion keeps the ego in its status, as long as the ego's unreality is not seen, there is no leap. Such unreality becomes clear when the individuality is known as "I Am." Each level of consciousness has its level of understanding and with it the level of perception of unreality. What does happen, and very often, is that the ego can have a glimpse of the real, and this marks forever the ego, who starts a quest to repeat the experience he has suffered, but that is not an Absolute-ego jump, it is more an ordeal.

[laughter]

Q: Parameshwar, I feel a great desire to move forward. I am not satisfied with my state of consciousness. I search but I can not find.

P: Have you practiced anything in your life?

Q: I have followed several paths: yoga, Buddhism, fourth path, Sufism ... but I am still the ego-ego of always, it seems that I am enslaved to him.

P: Of all this, what is it that you have made clear?

Q: I can not doubt these Ways, so I came to the conclusion that the Awakening is not for me. I think I've given myself in depth in each one of them ... and it's not that I look for results, but the truth is that many of my former colleagues have gone far.

P: Well, what do you want me to tell you? What have you looked for in each of these Ways? How old are you?

Q: I am 36 years old and in them I have looked for the Truth and the way to be able to self-realize myself.

P: As I believe that you have not been working on them for 36 years, I understand that you are too impatient and have not come to understand the essence of each of them, which is the same. If you had only understood the heart of one of them, you would not have changed the others. You are very young and you have tried to cover too much. Awakening is a process, and you have not given time for it to mature. On the other hand, do not look so much at the achievements of others, it's a very bad attitude.

Are there any more questions?

Q: Why do you say that the Jewel of Knowledge is knowing that you must dissolve? Understanding the Absolute, would not this be the Jewel?

P: I repeat the usual: "It is one thing to seek God and another is to seek Knowledge about God." True understanding leads to act according to it. If you really know that you must dissolve, all your purpose will be directed to it, right? Your internal attitude will be very different from that which only seeks intellectual knowledge about God, and this knowledge only uncovers elevated feelings, pure passing biochemistry. This is an attitude that differentiates the realized from the scholar. If you think for yourself you will come to the same or similar conclusion, do not you think?

I think the questions are being asked, it's too late, we should leave it here. So, see you tomorrow.

 

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