SelfDefinition.Org
Parameshwar Maharaj
Submerging into Myself
Advaita in Practice
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8. The identity principle "I Am"
With the body appears the Consciousness, the Light of the Absolute in the Kingdom of Maya, which will be hit by the impressions received through the five senses. The Consciousness will become in Being as soon as the Principle "I Am" appears as the Impassible Silent Witness of all the movement that takes place in it. The identification of the Consciousness with the physical body is served since the next step is the appearance of the mind.
Q: Parameshwar, is this perception of being that I have of me, now, the Witness, the "I Am"?
P: The "I Am" is the origin point of existence, of Life as regards its perception. This perception descends to the lower layers of consciousness, say, the ego. The "I Am" knows itself, but it is not an eye that perceives itself; At this point we can say that it is Pure Consciousness of Being, but this is not the Absolute. The ego is the "I Am" consciousness identified with the body, and the personal characteristics are taken as a real entity. It is this "perception of being" that you have to continually cling to to transcend the illusion of being an entity. This awareness of being in human beings is intermittent, it rarely appears if it is not through strong impacts given by the sway of life.
Q: But I am certain that "I am". I can witness the whole movement, both external and internal.
P: Are you detached from your identity?
[The interlocutor thinks]
P: You doubt too much! This response is telltale. There should be no doubt about it. Understand that the "I Am" Consciousness has nothing to do with the identity of which you now show. Hold on to this perception of being and everything will be rolled! The Consciousness "I Am" is free of any kind of reaction, it is a mere Witness of what arises in you, both from the external and the internal; Being beyond knowledge and ignorance, the "I Am" can never doubt. Tell me one thing: when you testify are you free of reaction?
Q: No!
P: Do not hesitate, now you know. At the time you asked the question you did not know, but now you know. Cling to the perception of me that appears intermittently in you.
Q: Parameshwar, in itself what is Enlightenment?
P: A concept; it is only a concept that has been able to build an entire archetype in the mind of the seeker. Enlightenment is nothing more than a simple awareness, an "awareness of". In the case that concerns us, it is only to realize that you are already the self that you are looking for. As soon as this happens, the entire building that has risen during years of search collapses in an instant. Awareness makes everything that was previously ignorance become obvious, and therefore, it turns the matter into a simple and obvious subject, that is why the ego collapses as soon as you realize that you are not that personality that you have always believed yourself to be. This "realization" supplements what was previously an illusion with the real.
Q: Why is it so difficult to realize our true Self?
P: Simply because one does not perceive oneself inwardly. What you call your inner world is nothing more than the action of the mind: thoughts, imagination, memories, emotions, etc. That inner world of yours is not real. You need to perceive yourself as the silent Witness of all this movement, without judging what you see as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. This Witness is already, believe me !, only that he has a way of being there wrong. That Witness is what you are looking for, you are yourself, but you have to realize that what you see is not part of your true identity. That is where the difficulty really lies! The confusion rises like a mental wall that you should tear down by constantly perceiving yourself, in each moment, as the mute Witness. The identity of the "I Am" is eliminated with a pure act of understanding.
Q: It remains difficult to understand.
P: It's because you do not listen in the right way. My words are eclipsed by your instant interpretation. There is the mind there. However, I will try to simplify more. There are only two steps to take; the first is to realize that everything you believe to be is not real, if the step is given, you will become the Pure Consciousness "I Am"; The second and last is to realize that Identity is not necessary. "I" is the identity. "I am" becomes BEING and BEING is the Self or Absolute. At this very moment, now, you are the Absolute. What you must be clear and understand is what Consciousness is.
Q: That is, as long as there is identity, will there be illusion?
P: That's right! The whole problem comes from there. Maha-Maya is the identity, however, it is through herself that liberation is given, going back to the Origin. This is the game. The ego has a false conception of its identity and yet is not aware of the feeling of being, which is in the background, take it back to the foreground and stay there is to start the trip back. During this trip mental traps arise that the same conscience will take care of. To stay in being is to begin to see the illusion.
Q: Is it necessary to meditate in order to remain in the being?
P: That is meditation, no tricks of any kind are necessary. Stay in your being and the different samadhis will come, but do not fall into the trap of desiring them, since they are transient states, alterations of consciousness. Reaching the Self, free of Identity, is called Sahaja Samadhi, the rest of the states lack importance, they come and go.
Q: But Advaita Vedanta emphasizes them.
P: Advaita Vedanta is only a crutch that helps you walk. There will come a time when you will have to throw it away. There are many crutches with different shapes and colors, but like all Teaching, it is an accumulation of information, it is a collection of useful concepts while you do not know where to go. All true Jnanis push you towards the being that you are, the perception of Yourself. Why do not you listen to them? Why do you cling to the crutch?
Q: The Advaita of today is the most powerful Teaching that exists, but it is not powerful because of what is written millennia ago, but it is powerful because of the simplification that the authentic Jnanis make of it. These have abandoned the dead letter and the only thing they transmit is their Advaita; his way of transmitting is based on his own experience. What you should not do is create a system or religion of these transmissions. But, of course, avoiding this is almost impossible.
Q: Are you telling us to abandon the Teaching? The teachings of Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta are the only things we have.
P: What you say is not true. The only thing you have is what they are always pointing out to you: the individuality, "I Am" and "The Absolute." What happens is that instead of looking inside you cling to their concepts, to the words they said one day and that you are looking to understand, but you do not finish assimilating that the only alternative is what they did: "be". You move on the intellectual plane even though they already told you that there is no way out of this labyrinth; However, you insist again and again. In reality you are not sincere seekers, you dream that you are, but you are not. You hunger for knowledge and in the end you write books, because you understand the Masters, assuming you are Jnanis. This is a good trap in which many have fallen, especially in the West, where there is great sympathy for writing books. The type of questions you ask is indicating your degree of "being". Advaita is so easy to understand that for many it becomes a death trap. Many of you, if you had to learn Sanskrit to understand the essence of Advaita Vedanta, would give up because this requires effort; in the same way, it takes effort to make real the advice of these venerable and sublime masters: "Be!". You must understand that while you are subject to any teaching you are chained to the mind, to the concepts. The SELF will remain trapped in the archetypal ego illusion.
Q: Why and why all this game?
P: Lila is just a concept applied since ancient times by vedantine gurus. It is not a correct term since this word implies something with player attributes and need for fun, but in India it was accepted, simply because that was determined by those gurus in their day. Let's say that all this "divine play" are processes of distance and return to the Source. The "why" and the "why" have no meaning beyond the concepts, it happens so, from the very moment in which the Absolute acquires the first quality of Self-Knowledge become the processes known as Maya or Consciousness.
Q: The teachers say that it is the Absolute that falls in Maya and it is He who awakens from it ...
P: That's right, everything is the Absolute. There is no real fact to anything that can be called "I" or "individuality." Through a process of estrangement or fall, the Absolute becomes trapped in Maya when it acquires an identity and it is through it that it divorces itself by falling into duality. In this case, duality means "you" and "I". The identification with the body is the point of maximum distance.
Q: When does the fall occur?
P: When the Absolute knows Himself. At this point the mechanism of the incarnation arises, it is a mechanism that belongs to Maya, since the Absolute never ceases to be without attributes. Let's say that this process is a "birth" in the Illusion. The process of "taking Self-Awareness" is a process of returning to the Origin. During the process of estrangement (once a physical body has been taken) the Absolute becomes clothed with Identity, it is a physical process, completely physical, and which is directly related to the development of the physical body. The Fontanelle in the child marks the process until its closure in the skull, at which time the Absolute is completely abandoned to Maya; This is how the egoic identity begins.
Q: Then all kinds of religions and teachings arise to return to the Origin.
P: That's right. But only those that show the way to the elimination of identity are worthy of trust. The rest are a set of rites and dogmas that support ignorance.
Q: One must go by removing the layers that have been acquired during life. Is it like that?
P: Let's say yes, that's right. As long as one does not have the ability of Self-consciousness as a personal characteristic, the way to acquire it is "neti-neti", the observer's denial of everything that is not himself, until he realizes that he is the Consciousness . From this point everything changes and the possibility of Realization opens up. When the ego realizes that Consciousness is its real nature, the whole archetypal building that makes up its life collapses before it. This is the first "awakening" and is the strongest awareness that everything is illusion. It is very rare to find people of such caliber, the ego disintegrates, and they are people who already dwell in the "I Am" Consciousness in different degrees. Once this event occurs, the Consciousness must be consolidated, since it is the true Master Key of the Realization.
Q: Can you have glimpses of this Consciousness?
P: Yes, but a glimpse is not awakening. Awakening is an awareness that is powerful enough to, let's say, move from one state to another.
Q: It is very difficult to take this step!
P: This is Maya's game. While you believe that your intellect is the best tool you have, the step will never be given. The question is that no matter how much you think, understand and organize the Teaching, the puzzle will be getting bigger and more complicated to finish. The mind is a labyrinth of possibilities with no way out. Until you can not see for yourself that the mind does not have the quality of "awakening," you will not be fed up with it. The possibility for the human being is to abandon his most precious gift, the intellect. This is the rule of the game: look for your own aroma and persecute it until the end, the perception of your being is the key and there is no other method. The perception of "Being" is the knowledge that you are an identity, the origin of it is Consciousness "I Am", it is not your mind or born in it, from it part the illusion that you are a personality with attributes . Tell me one thing, when you are quiet at home reading a book, do you need to prove to yourself or others that you are intelligent, sensitive, good, etc.?
Q: Well, the truth, no!
P: Therefore, you get rid of your personality, do not you?
Q: Yes!
P: Realize that you can live without him calmly during daily life in the same way as when you read. But that's not where I want to go. When you read the book, who are you?
I do not know!
P: Where is the consciousness of Yourself?
Q: There is not!
P: Exactly! But this is not worthy of praise since it is what keeps Maya going. The "absence" of Yes is the greatest drama that exists, the Absolute is literally swallowed up by an imaginary story written in a book, by a television series or by the highest grossing film of the moment.
[laughter]
At the moment of reading one must make the effort to discover oneself as the reader, to become aware that I am reading this book. If you get this, immediately leave the book and stay there as I, this is Self-consciousness. If you can, keep this flavor of yourself as much as you can. Do you understand the point?
Q: Yes, completely! This has happened many times ...
P: Yes, but you do not know what to do with this material!
Q: It can not be that easy!
P: [laughs] Do it! It is the beginning of Advaita. Chase your identity and get rid of it.
Q: Is Identity what frustrates the fulfillment of the Self?
P: Indeed! So is! The "I Am" Consciousness is the first thing that is created in the Pure Consciousness, in the Pure Being, in the Great Void, and is the Witness, the cause and the origin of the Individuality, reflection of the Self in the Consciousness that most Later it gives rise to the ego-consciousness, and the false personality we know, in ignorance, as our real individuality.
Individuality is that concept that most loves the human being and whose loss is the cause of the greatest terror. Ignorance identifies non-individuality with "nothing". This "nothingness" is also a mental concept. The human being does not know what "death" is; nevertheless, he invents the "sky" and the "nothing", the "absolute emptiness"; between both mental concepts, humanity is divided. The Self is the emptiness of Individuality, it can not be defined, but it is not the concept of "nothing" that ignorant man has.
Q: With the realization of the I everything is clarified ...
P: Right! The Self can not be described with words since they do not exist for definition; however, it can be described as "Stillness", "state of lucidity without an object", "Being Pure lacking any notion of self". Nobody, literally, no one can experience the state of Turya, because in order to be able to access Turya the individuality must first disappear. Turya is beyond knowledge and ignorance, that is, the mind.
Q: How is Turya accessed?
P: There comes a time when the practitioner is self-absorbed, that is, he remains only as the Consciousness "I Am", when he realizes that to be there is not necessary to be there, present in the midst of all the impressions that are they receive through the senses. He enjoys Silence and Peace, the Grace of the Self, and it is this that makes him understand that what separates him from the Self is precisely his presence as an entity. When the luminous moment arrives that ONE is the main stumbling block, the absorption of the drop in the Ocean begins, from the Individuality in the Self. The same "I Am" learns to abandon himself in the arms of Stillness that attracts him to the Heart Center. The Self disengages itself from its image and the mind is diluted in the Great Void. It is the entrance to Turya, and the body reacts as if it were entering a rare waking dream state, the breathing becomes subtle and acquires rhythms as when one is in deep sleep. There are short losses of consciousness that are the sign that goes into depth in Turya, with each of them the individuality disintegrates giving way to the Self, which is nothing more than the Stillness of the Being. The body remains still and the Breathing changes require deep inhalations that on expiration leave you as if you were in sleep. The only difference between Turya and the dream without dreams is the Lucidity of Turya.
All of you already know Turya, only that you have forgotten. When you were little, Turya was a very normal state. When you later go back into it, you recognize it as not new and you realize that you have returned home. You will not need anyone to confirm it, no guru is necessary for you to receive the verification. It is so obvious!
Q: Parameshwar, you paint it so easy ...
[laughter]
P: It's easy, when you know what terrain to step on. You are looking for what you already know. You all know you are, follow this line, there is no other. Maintain that knowledge of BE and reach the origin of Individuality and then learn to "not be there." There's no more.