An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
As for Maharaj, you will find here some of his early pointers for beginners but some of his later pointers that are for seekers father along the "path." During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." What he offered later differed considerably from his earlier talks, making clear that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race" but that his final talks point the way to "the finish line."
F.: Yesterday, reference was made to the fact that there are many types of essence that can manifest:
the essence of food is Consciousness;
the essence of liberation is freedom from personality;
the essence of the Absolute is Awareness;
the essence of this existence is knowing Oneness (True Love) and Wisdom;
the essence of Oneness is a "no-relationship relationship," the transcendence of the false belief in two (in an "A" and a "B") alongside the understanding of "Advaita" ... of "not-two";
the essence of sex is Love / love; that is, the Absolute, non-physical, noumenal Oneness overlaid on a relative, phenomenal act of physicality;
the essence of beingness via Realization;
the essence of authenticity via Realization;
and
the essence of Full Realization, which is independence, freedom, happiness, joy, bliss.
First, it has been noted here before that the Am-ness and the physical brain are rooted in the elements; that consciousness manifests via the elements; but that consciousness and awareness, ultimately, are rooted in the Absolute.
Yet if it were not for plants - which become plant food for humans and animals - the consciousness could not manifest and could not be transferred to human and animal bodies.
Maharaj noted that beyond the variety of appearances and characteristics that plants have, there is a singular commonality, namely, they are "identical in essence." Yet the ultimate essence is even beyond that, beyond the consciousness, even.
He said that " ... the totally objective and the totally subjective are identical, both in substance and essence"; thus, I AM THAT; I AM.
Without the facilitation of the plants, though, the AM-ness could not be. The plants take non-usable energy and convert it into a form of energy that can be used by humans and other living beings.
To that end, the essence of the plant food is that usable energy and the conscious-energy which manifests within the plant. By consuming the food, the essence is also consumed, allowing plant cells to convert into a variety of human or animal cells which supply a body and which sustain a body that, in turn, functions - at least temporarily - as a body-cum-consciousness.
Yet the manifested consciousness is only the penultimate essence of the Absolute, not the ultimate essence of the Absolute. The ultimate essence of the Absolute is Awareness.
Maharaj said, "Reflected awareness, the sense ‘I am aware’ is the witness, while pure awareness is the essence of reality." It has been noted here that there are two levels of witnessing: Subject-Object Witnessing and Pure Witnessing. The totally unblocked consciousness allows for pure witnessing, and the True Self can be understood to be, not "the witness" and not even "The Pure Witness," but merely Pure Witnessing, period.
Both the unblocked consciousness and the "I am aware" version of awareness can be said at the early level of the teaching to function as "a witness" (if "a witness" is not assumed as an identity).
At the purest level, though, the ultimate essence of the Absolute is not even the unblocked consciousness; it is instead pure awareness which is also the ultimate essence of reality.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
the essence of food is Consciousness;
the essence of liberation is freedom from personality;
the essence of the Absolute is Awareness;
the essence of this existence is knowing Oneness (True Love) and Wisdom;
the essence of Oneness is a "no-relationship relationship," the transcendence of the false belief in two (in an "A" and a "B") alongside the understanding of "Advaita" ... of "not-two";
the essence of sex is Love / love; that is, the Absolute, non-physical, noumenal Oneness overlaid on a relative, phenomenal act of physicality;
the essence of beingness via Realization;
the essence of authenticity via Realization;
and
the essence of Full Realization, which is independence, freedom, happiness, joy, bliss.
First, it has been noted here before that the Am-ness and the physical brain are rooted in the elements; that consciousness manifests via the elements; but that consciousness and awareness, ultimately, are rooted in the Absolute.
Yet if it were not for plants - which become plant food for humans and animals - the consciousness could not manifest and could not be transferred to human and animal bodies.
Maharaj noted that beyond the variety of appearances and characteristics that plants have, there is a singular commonality, namely, they are "identical in essence." Yet the ultimate essence is even beyond that, beyond the consciousness, even.
He said that " ... the totally objective and the totally subjective are identical, both in substance and essence"; thus, I AM THAT; I AM.
Without the facilitation of the plants, though, the AM-ness could not be. The plants take non-usable energy and convert it into a form of energy that can be used by humans and other living beings.
To that end, the essence of the plant food is that usable energy and the conscious-energy which manifests within the plant. By consuming the food, the essence is also consumed, allowing plant cells to convert into a variety of human or animal cells which supply a body and which sustain a body that, in turn, functions - at least temporarily - as a body-cum-consciousness.
Yet the manifested consciousness is only the penultimate essence of the Absolute, not the ultimate essence of the Absolute. The ultimate essence of the Absolute is Awareness.
Maharaj said, "Reflected awareness, the sense ‘I am aware’ is the witness, while pure awareness is the essence of reality." It has been noted here that there are two levels of witnessing: Subject-Object Witnessing and Pure Witnessing. The totally unblocked consciousness allows for pure witnessing, and the True Self can be understood to be, not "the witness" and not even "The Pure Witness," but merely Pure Witnessing, period.
Both the unblocked consciousness and the "I am aware" version of awareness can be said at the early level of the teaching to function as "a witness" (if "a witness" is not assumed as an identity).
At the purest level, though, the ultimate essence of the Absolute is not even the unblocked consciousness; it is instead pure awareness which is also the ultimate essence of reality.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
