What shines here as ‘I’ is self-revealing, self-effulgent
consciousness who is independent of all that is observed or perceived in its
presence.
For understanding the self-evident nature of Consciousness
that shines here in this body-mind complex as ‘I’, all you have to do is unload
from one’s understanding, all that is
observable, as well as all that is changing and taken to be “I”. That means one
would unload the notions of being a body-mind complex from one’s understanding
of “I” because the body-mind is observed and observable. What about the deep
impressions that are in the mind, which are not available for immediate observation?
Well the deep impressions, whatever they may be are observable, as and when
they surface into one’s conscious mind. Since they qualify to be observable,
they too are not inherent in consciousness.
What is left after this unloading, which is really unloading
of one’s sense of self-identity in the body-mind complex, is just self-evident consciousness.
Is arriving at, ascertaining for oneself the nature of “I”
being self-evident consciousness equivalent to enlightenment? NO. There are
some teachers who claim this is equal to enlightenment – that is false – it is
cheating gullible troubled beings, who need some respite from the agitations
caused by their mistaken self-identity. That respite is only temporary as many
of them do discover.
Ascertaining for oneself that who I am is self-evident
self-effulgent consciousness, that is indeed INDEPENDENT of the body-mind
complex is the first step. Without understanding the purport of the Upanishad
statement tat tvam asi – You (the
self-evident consciousness) are That (absolute reality that apparently manifests as the ever-changing universe)
how are you going to ascertain for
yourself that the self-evident consciousness is indeed independent, changeless
and infinite and therefore absolutely
free?
Freedom is recognizing the “I” to be the self-evident
consciousness that is independent of everything illumined in its presence and
therefore to be always free of whatever you had considered yourself to be bound
by. Therefore self-evident consciousness that shines as “I” is always free of
- · Samskara (deep impressions) even when they are present in the mind
- · Results of action -Punya and paapa
- · Restlessness and agitations of the mind
The freedom is total.
Perhaps it is only on understanding one’s freedom that one
understands how free the human free-will is. All vyvahara continues as before – and yet now
one is free enough to choose out of one’s love and joy, what to associate with
and what not to.
