Unveiling the Infinite Self with Vedantic Insights

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic Podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh.

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Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode.

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There are two ways of looking at awareness.

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One way is I'm aware of an object.

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Now, when one is aware of an object, there is still a subtle duality there, but one understands that they are the awareness and there is an object that one is observing.

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So that can be the thoughts in the mind.

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That can be literally an object right in front of you.

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That is one type of awareness which is good in the beginning, necessary in the beginning, because you want to create a bit of a detachment.

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Otherwise what happens really is like.

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For example, it goes from like my car to I'm aware of the car, you know from you know my body to I'm aware of the body.

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So what we see there is, there is a distinct, an interesting duality, but there's also the understanding that maybe they're in the background, that all of this is that one substance, that one existence, that one being.

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Now, the other awareness, although there isn't another awareness, it's still one and the same.

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It's still one and the same.

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But how to understand the non-dual truth effectively is to understand the difference.

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So you have the sarkshibab, which is the, the witness, consciousness.

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So that's there in the intellect, kind of.

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You know that goes through the intellect and the mind, and you know there is, I am observing, I am the witness of these thoughts, I'm the witness of the images, I'm a witness of the images on this, I'm aware of what's going on around me.

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You know there's a, there's a perceptual awareness that's going on and I'm going to use an analogy of the screen in a minute.

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But there is the aspect where and this is the highest level, so on the, on the relative reality, level, level of reality which is, like you know, where we are transactioning with the world there is that awareness which is kind.

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We are in meditation, when we are in absorption, so we may be reading a scripture, but eventually it leads us to understanding our true nature.

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Once that's understood, then it's about just resting in our true nature.

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Now, this awareness is simply aware of itself.

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This awareness does not need anything to be aware of itself, it's enough unto itself.

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So what happens is where it's.

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Like you know, rupert Spira says this a lot it's obviously being in the scriptures a lot being aware of being aware.

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Now, it's not that there is another awareness, aware of awareness, it's literally the same awareness, but the residue of the object is no longer there.

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So, on that changeless substratum, both awarenesses, on both levels that we've been talking about, the one aware of the object and one aware of its own awareness, they both are one and the same in the sense of there is not a separate awareness.

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One is function through some level of the mind, because one is aware of the mind.

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This one is when you dissolve into awareness, when you surrender into awareness, and there is only awareness there.

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You surrender into awareness and there is only awareness there.

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So literally, it's like awareness is just being awareness.

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And this was relatively nicely put and uh, I'm going to try and find it, but it was nicely put by Ramana Maharishi and I hope I have this somewhere, but I do have it written down.

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Yes, so Ramana Maharishi would say that this reality, so this Brahman that we're talking about, the paramatika level, is.

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What we're talking of is that this awareness is not awareness of anything other than ourself or itself.

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So in that awareness, there is only awareness present.

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There is no such thing as any notion existing.

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There isn't anything before that awareness.

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There's nothing after that awareness.

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Now, this awareness is constantly there, even in the relative reality, but we can easily forget about it.

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Hence, in Vedanta, we talk about having a strong understanding of how everything else is transient and temporary, and therefore only this consciousness, this Brahman, is complete in itself.

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But to get to that level, you have to literally be logically shown that everything else is illogical, that everything else is transient.

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Everything else is an object that you can be aware of, therefore separate to you, and this separation is what causes the ego, creates the ego, and this ego is what enforces this separation continuously.

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And therefore this separation is also given by ignorance, avidya.

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And then also, even if we are aware of our true self, we could be mistaking the rope for a snake or the snake for a rope, shall I say.

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You know, there's a rope in front of us, but we've imposed, superimposed, a snake, and that's what we've done.

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We think consciousness is produced by the brain, as some neuroscientists believe, but Advaita Vedanta would suggest otherwise, that consciousness is prior to the brain, to the mind.

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Now, that's not the topic I was discussing, but I think it was very important that we understand when we're talking about Brahman, when we're talking about the highest non-dual realization of what we abide by and what truly is enlightenment.

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None of this other stuff that people claim is enlightenment.

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Like if you believe that enlightenment is about you not being disturbed by anyone, that's not enlightenment.

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Awareness cannot be disturbed.

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So to imply that there could be disturbance there is not disturbance is ridiculous, of course, even if one turns around, say but, but the mind is cleaned.

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Therefore, if the mind is pure, it will not get disturbed.

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Somewhat true, but there are certain tendencies that are maintained for the body to function.

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So there will always be some level of disturbance.

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Whether this becomes anything, that's our sadhana, that's our spiritual practice.

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But has it got anything to do with actual realization?

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Very little.

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There's a correlation, for sure, I would say, but it's not the causation.

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Like.

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Enlightenment does not cause you to not be disturbed.

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This is my honest opinion.

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Enlightenment does not cause you to not be disturbed.

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This is my honest opinion.

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All I find is that enlightenment is understanding who you really are now, who you really are.

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To say it is not disturbed by anything is true, but then do not neglect the human experience.

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The human experience is very important and the human experience, the human experience is very important and the human experience is what is beautiful.

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You know, if I choose to be happy about something, that's my choice.

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The mind has made that choice, the intellect has guided that choice and that intellect is strengthened by my vivek, that vivek which is my discernment, and that's you know.

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The Bhagavad Gita is a perfect text because it shows you how to live in the world and how to function as an enlightened being.

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Right, so, yes, there's qualities of an enlightened being that shri krishna has talked about.

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But yes, and that person is to be free from agitation.

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Yes, now, if you see from the physical point of view, then you're missing the point.

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Yeah, what shri krishna is describing is that person who has removed every aspect of personal identification.

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Now, that can not be the body and mind.

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There are still vasanas, latent tendencies, there's still samskaras that can come up.

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There's still akarma, aparabdha, karma.

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So all those need a response of some sort.

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Even not responding is a response and that also has its effect.

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So, yes, going to the screen example.

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So you have a screen, a blank screen, a cinema screen, a theatre screen.

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If you're in America and you have a movie being played, countless movies have been played on that screen.

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Has the screen been influenced by any of those movies?

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No, it remains as it is, a screen that will project movies.

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Now, that screen, obviously, if we imply that it is aware of itself, that screen will always return back to itself as it is, pure and simple.

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It's just a blank screen.

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The moment a movie is played on it, the screen can be, the screen is showing that movie, is allowing the movie to project, to be projected, and, again, it's not impacted.

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So, likewise, this is how to understand what Ramana Maharishi was talking about.

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So when he says that this awareness is not awareness of anything other than ourself or itself, what's implying is that that pure awareness that is the screen, regardless of the images being shown, it doesn't matter, it is, it knows that it is awareness itself.

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That's it.

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And then, when I say self, remember, I'm not talking about somebody, don't mistake or some supernatural element like the soul.

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I'm not talking about that like something separate.

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I'm talking about that which is an indivisible, but if I'm aware of an object, it can be like the screen being aware that the movie is being projected.

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If it could be.

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I know it's not the greatest analogy, but it was an analogy I wanted to share because I want us to understand what really is self-realization, what really is God-realization, what really is enlightenment.

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And it's simply I think Ramana Maharishi says it beautifully it's this awareness that this reality is, that this awareness is not awareness of anything other than ourself or itself.

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The reason why I say ourself is because Vedanta is all about knowing who you really are, and it's not like you adopt a higher self.

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You are already the higher self.

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You've always been the higher self.

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You superimposed a smaller self, or I have superimposed a smaller self, or I have superimposed a smaller self.

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This limited being, what I was, what I am, is something limitless, but what I think I am is something limited, and self-realization is when you break away from that limitation.

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So it's not about you gaining another kind of self.

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No, there is only that one self, and that's it.

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That one self is the same in all of us.

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All of us are literally like waves upon the ocean of the self, that's all.

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But the wave is the ocean and the self, all these limited selves, are all that one ocean.

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So you can be a wave, but understand, you're the ocean.

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That's Jivan Mukti and that's what Advaita Vedanta offers.

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That's what it plans to do.

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But again, what I've talked about today is probably really high level, kind of top level, kind of non-duality.

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Not this non-duality that you hear on YouTube these days, or these people, neo-advitants, who, in my opinion, their message is confusing.

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In my opinion, their message is confusing.

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But the clarity required to be in awareness, where we are not aware of anything else other than our true self, our true nature, our atma, there's nothing beyond that.

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But how do I deal with this world?

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That's the main question.

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That if I know that I am awareness, that I am Brahman, that that's what I am truly, if I truly believe, if I truly realize this, if I truly am abiding in this, then how do I deal with the world?

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And that's why Sri Krishna mentions the whole world being a lila.

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All this is a lila, all this is a play, a world, the jagat, the world is presenting a play upon itself.

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Now do I cry that the play has finished or the play is not going the way I wanted it to go.

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I'm not the director, I'm not even the actor.

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If you simply go with the flow, you see, life is very beautiful, even the pains, the struggles.

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Even that is beautiful because it makes you appreciate life.

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And that's what we have to do.

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Appreciate life In this limited time that we have to do.

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Appreciate life In this limited time that we have.

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It's a blip in eternity.

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Appreciate it, and first, get to know who you really are and see with the vision of the sages, the tattva darshis.

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You know the ones that are the seers, as they call it.

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See as they see and you will find this world to be magnificent.

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You don't need a psychedelic trip, you don't need no substance to bring this to you.

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It can be seen right now, right here.

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All you need is that wisdom to see it, to unveil it, to unveil that which is already here, to unveil that which you already are.

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That's all.

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And again, to make this something that will remain with you.

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See, we can get maybe from what you've heard today, you may get an awakening by my words big deal, you know.

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Wow, great.

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But how do you abide in it, how do you remain in it?

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How do you make sure the mind doesn't come back to make self-realization into this event that's just happened, because it's not an event.

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Think about it.

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How can you make an event of something you already are?

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Don't make an event out of this, but the mind does that, the ego does that and that's why we go back into the cycle.

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Then we have to defend what we've realized, what awakening we've had.

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Don't bother to do any of this nonsense.

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The main purpose is first get our knowledge correct.

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That's why we have Vedanta to stabilize us in the time that self-realization occurs in time.

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And obviously I'm saying occurs in time, in inverted commas.

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It's always hard to use language with this, but I'm trying my best.

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I'm trying my best to be very careful with my language and no matter how refined it gets, still you find some things missing.

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But yes, that's why we have Vedanta.

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You know I was.

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I've been obviously working on my course and I realised, like 14 weeks that's half of the course In fact 13, sorry, 13 weeks is purely dealing with duality and how it's not real, how it's a changing phenomena that we should not invest too much in.

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You know you have to earn your bread and butter, so that has to be understood and then the rest of it is the lead up to non-duality.

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Most of it is all then the non-dual realization and the nididhyasana of it.

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The first 13 weeks is shravanamanana listening and then addressing doubts.

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You know we address the doubts in the weekly meetings that will happen.

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But this is important.

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Do not bypass any of these steps.

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There's a reason why there's a structure, because for this to be permanent, for you seeking transcend samsara, we have to have full understanding.

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We have to have a purified mind that is able to stabilize fully in this truth and to realize that this body and mind has its use.

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But it's not who I am Realize what I am is important On this podcast.

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What we do is we address both.

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But those that are of the higher understanding will understand exactly what I'm talking about.

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They don't need to be told that this world is, that you need to at least function in this world.

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That should be a natural byproduct of understanding, if we've understood Vedanta, if you've understood whatever tradition we follow.

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But yes, that's all I really want to say.

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I'll see you in the next episode.

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But one thing I do want to kind of point out and mention.

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So there was, there was a YouTuber.

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Well, there was a youtube channel of a non-dual teacher called Nirgun John.

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I found out that he passed away on the 10th um.

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I only found out yesterday and I'm really sorry for his loss.

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You know he was a great teacher.

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He had a lot of clarity not very well known, but regardless those, even if they're not well known, they've done so much for humanity and they should be celebrated.

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All my sympathy to the family and friends and disciples of Nirgun John.

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And I don't need to say, for someone who has a first name, nirgun, I was thinking do I say rest in peace?

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Do I say may the Atma be at peace?

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But then, whenever I think of the word Nirgun, I'm like, well, they've already reached where they need to reach.

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His teachings are there.

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His channel is called Nirgun John, so you can check it out.

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But you know it's always a sad time when genuine teachers pass on.

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I always thought there's a genuineness to him and but yeah, so my humble sympathies to the family and friends and disciples of nirgunjan and any of his disciples who may also follow my content.

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Just know that I put him in high regard and I fully respect such great beings.

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So, yes, anyway, take care everybody.

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Namaste.

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