Via this forum, seekers interested in non-duality, specifically in the direct path method of the advaita vedanta nonduality teachings, can find discussions regarding your original nature and the means for dwelling in the natural state. The nisarga (natural) system of yoga as presented by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj of the Navnath sampradaya lineage is offered.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the
F.: (Continued from yesterday) As persons learn more and more false concepts that are taught post-manifestation, the consciousness focuses more and more on what it is not and less and less on THAT Which It Is.
With certain seekers, the consciousness senses its presence to a degree, allowing persons to conclude on some level that "I am more than a body"; however, full awareness of that presence (and exactly what it is that is present) happens less and less as more concepts are learned.
Other persons, farther removed from such awareness, often reach a point of saying, “I don’t even know who I am.” With some, an intimation of “immortality” might register, but most who sense that there is “something with continuity” will be programmed to believe that it is the body-mind-personality triad (or some “soulful” version thereof) that will “last forever.”
So, whether being “blocked” is discussed, or “being impure” is discussed, or “having its focus misdirected” is discussed, the real issue is to see
(a) the result of the blockage or impurity or misdirection and
(b) how the Teachings can remove the obstacles which are preventing the consciousness from being aware of ItSelf, from witnessing in a pure manner, from knowing the unicity, from understanding the Absolute, and from abiding thereafter as the Absolute for the remainder of the manifestation.
Therefore, there is no willingness here to debate the merits of one teacher’s expression of the dilemma as opposed to that offered by others. Why? Because the relative results and effects are the same, either way.
In satsang sessions in the past, some seemed to understand the issue more easily when one term was used while others seemed to grasp the teaching more readily if other explanations were used.
Yet all point toward the same phenomenon in essence and in effect, so here, you will find various terms used on various occasions, mainly determined by the readiness of the seeker and by the requirement of different seekers to receive different pointers.
The point is that the consciousness, once programmed and conditioned and enculturated (whether “warped,” “blocked,” “diverted” or “distracted”) is prevented from witnessing clearly and from differentiating true from false.
Some might consider “the mind’s” content of warped ideas and concepts to be the detriment to accessing the pure consciousness. Others conclude that it is the “mind’s” recall of “memories” and “impressions” and “non-facts presented as facts” that causes the dilemma.
That ability of two parts of the brain to store and recall concepts has (according to some) “blocked” the pure consciousness from knowing itself or has distracted it from remembering truth by tapping into the inner resource or inner guru.
PLS. NOTE: Here’s a quote from The Advaita Quote Site (http://advaitaquotes.blogspot.com/) that addresses all three factors involved and clarifies their differences:
“Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.”
The fact is that no seeker’s movement along the “path” should be delayed by becoming fixated on the “blocked vs. warped vs. distracted” debate. Merely question all that you have been taught and consider the suggestion that the “journey” to Realization is more about unlearning than it is about learning. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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