When we touched upon the real self or awareness , we remarked that it is not something that can be known.
What exactly do we mean by this?.
In order to understand this let us look at how we study anything.
We isolate something to study say for e.g. the star or human body . This represents the object of knowledge.
We are the subject of this study . Whatever is gained from the study is called the knowledge.
Subject (I)------knowledge of----> Object ( star or human body or some object)
Now in this case we have the curious state where the object that we want to know is same as the subject itself.
Subject --- Subject (?)
This is not possible in the conventional way of knowledge or objective system of study because of its self referential nature.
So what is the way out?. We are in luck here. There is no need to do anything. If we are already that what is there to know !!!!. Remember why we study an object such as star. We know we are not a star so we need to study it. In the case of self we are already that so there is nothing to know.
That is why acharyas have said
The self is not knowable , but it is not unknown either.
If so why do simple people like us not realize it . This is because of the avidya or ignorance in us about its existence. So the path of self realization is just to drop our ignorance through a system of continuous meditation on the self by rejecting anything other than the self.
If the body comes and says something to us we reject it , if the mind laments about its miseries we reject it, we go on paying attention to our true sense of being ( "I am"). Slowly the self shines itself in us as people who taken this path tell us.
therefore To Know What you Are, Find What you Are Not
I have also told you there is only one self. All the differences that we see are only of the bodies and minds and its conditioning. The same self is shining in all of us and all of objects too.
The self has become these entities by getting inside containers.
If that is true you might ask when i am happy why is another person sad or if one is having a state of sadness why is not everyone so.
We can understand this by looking at an analogy.
The sun when it shines on many objects and its reflection would be different according to the surface. Say if a mirror is broken it is seen distorted , if a mirror is clean it is clearly seen.
So just like that it is the same Brahman which is reflecting in all of existence. But depending on our encasing we reflect it .
This also tells us that sorrow, happiness pain etc are not the characters or the self. It is actually devoid of any frailties. Only when the self is reflected in a broken container will it be distorted.
However the self itself like sunlight is not sad or miserable.
If we disregard the encasing , there is only one entity unique and undivided.
So when we die nothing happens to the self. It continues its eternal and undivided presence. Only the casing is lost. So truly speaking we are never born nor do we die.
What exactly do we mean by this?.
In order to understand this let us look at how we study anything.
We isolate something to study say for e.g. the star or human body . This represents the object of knowledge.
We are the subject of this study . Whatever is gained from the study is called the knowledge.
Subject (I)------knowledge of----> Object ( star or human body or some object)
Now in this case we have the curious state where the object that we want to know is same as the subject itself.
Subject --- Subject (?)
This is not possible in the conventional way of knowledge or objective system of study because of its self referential nature.
So what is the way out?. We are in luck here. There is no need to do anything. If we are already that what is there to know !!!!. Remember why we study an object such as star. We know we are not a star so we need to study it. In the case of self we are already that so there is nothing to know.
That is why acharyas have said
The self is not knowable , but it is not unknown either.
If so why do simple people like us not realize it . This is because of the avidya or ignorance in us about its existence. So the path of self realization is just to drop our ignorance through a system of continuous meditation on the self by rejecting anything other than the self.
If the body comes and says something to us we reject it , if the mind laments about its miseries we reject it, we go on paying attention to our true sense of being ( "I am"). Slowly the self shines itself in us as people who taken this path tell us.
therefore To Know What you Are, Find What you Are Not
I have also told you there is only one self. All the differences that we see are only of the bodies and minds and its conditioning. The same self is shining in all of us and all of objects too.
The self has become these entities by getting inside containers.
If that is true you might ask when i am happy why is another person sad or if one is having a state of sadness why is not everyone so.
We can understand this by looking at an analogy.
The sun when it shines on many objects and its reflection would be different according to the surface. Say if a mirror is broken it is seen distorted , if a mirror is clean it is clearly seen.
So just like that it is the same Brahman which is reflecting in all of existence. But depending on our encasing we reflect it .
This also tells us that sorrow, happiness pain etc are not the characters or the self. It is actually devoid of any frailties. Only when the self is reflected in a broken container will it be distorted.
However the self itself like sunlight is not sad or miserable.
If we disregard the encasing , there is only one entity unique and undivided.
So when we die nothing happens to the self. It continues its eternal and undivided presence. Only the casing is lost. So truly speaking we are never born nor do we die.
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