Self is revealed in the final stage of Self Inquiry when the doer who does Self Inquiry surrenders/loses himself and Impersonal Awareness claims the, “I” status. The doer, “I” does not know Impersonal Awareness as object but the Impersonal Awareness as true, “I” recognises ItSelf after removing doer, “I”. This shift is subtle and is not necessarily as dramatic as the words, “Awakening” and “Enlightenment” may sound. Surrender happens when you understand that the results of action are beyond your control and only then you let the doership go. Surrender does not necessarily mean surrendering to a physical guru.
[Mundakopanishad, 3-2-3 Portion]
Meaning: The Self is gained only by him who longs for It with the whole heart. For to such a one the Self reveals Its own nature.
Enlightenment means direct knowledge of the Seer as Seer. In NDE (Near Death Experience), since there is an experience without body and this experience appears much more real than the experience that a normal mind has, there is a clear realisation that one is not the body and not the mind. One is inclined to call oneself as the individual soul after NDE. There is a feeling of unconditional love, of timelessness etc. in NDE but it is a feeling after all. Seer merely sees without feeling. Seer does not have any individuality also. Negating body and mind is fine but if individual soul is not negated it is not enlightenment. Seer is pure Consciousness which is beyond body, mind and individual soul. NDE does not necessarily mean enlightenment. If Self Inquiry continues during NDE, it can give rise to enlightenment.
The mark at the middle of two eyebrows symbolises opening of third eye (spiritual eye) which implies enlightenment. The three lines on the forehead symbolise the gross body, subtle body and causal body that are reduced to ashes when the third eye opens and enlightenment happens. These words may sound like something dramatic takes place when enlightenment happens but the fact is that if the process of Self Inquiry is followed to attain enlightenment, the changes take place gradually. It is not that all changes take place during direct realisation. Also, changes continue to take place after enlightenment as unconscious mind takes time to change.
During Self Inquiry one can try to figure out how vrittis (mental modifications, thought waves) originate or how thoughts pop up every now and then making us do things like puppets are made to do things. This eventually leads us to know that we are programmed and are not really the doers. Loss of doership is the key in the final stages of Self Realisation where the one who was doing the Self Inquiry surrenders knowing that it is not the doer.
Meaning: All the vrittis are born sequentially after gaps. When one vritti is destroyed, another one is born. One should understand the origin of third, fourth etc. vrittis. All vrittis disappear during deep sleep, unconscious state, samadhi and not even one remains out of those.
It is said that while tomorrow you can forget what you hear today but you seldom forget cycling or swimming. Self-Realisation/Aparokshanubhooti is the direct knowledge of the Self. It is not a bookish knowledge, epiphany without true realisation, belief or faith.
The above implies that once the intellect develops to recognise the truth of the Atman then any behaviour/false-identification involving/caused-due-to body, mind, energy, intellect, bliss does not cause the loss of this intellect. To live in the apparent reality, false identification has to be done. The enlightened person does respond when called by a name. He/she still signs cheques and does all the routine jobs involving false identifications. But, just like an actor does not remain character of the play after the act, the enlightened person can get rid of these false identifications. Aparokshanubooti (direct knowledge) is generally irreversible in the long run.
Sometimes the most available thing is not noticed just because we are so much accustomed to it. For example, we are constantly pressed by the atmosphere of the earth and do not feel its pressure at all. Likewise, what we really are, we do not even recognise it. Embedded below is the video by Sri James Swartz – a Vedanta teacher. Continue reading The Most Obvious Thing→
