Tag Archives: Enlightenment
10 Commandments for Enlightened Living
- The only truth is pure consciousness which is not an individual being but it is more like a unified field.
- Potentiality (maya) is the inherent nature of pure consciousness. Hence, it is the source of creation.
- All creation is made from pure consciousness itself as there is nothing else but it. Potentiality is something that is hard-wired within pure awareness. It is due to the potentiality that pure consciousness keeps on taking various forms. Potentiality keeps on generating ripples in the field of consciousness. Strength of the ripple leads to attachment/false identification creating false, “I”.
- The apparent* creation happens spontaneously as if driven by a set of laws. The set of laws are just like the procedure that a steady mind follows to build something on its own without any specific instructions and sticks to them.
- One of the results of these laws of creation is man. So, man in reality is pure consciousness.
- Suffering is due to the fact that pure consciousness (Self) gets identified/attached with the man who has several instruments of experience and memory. This identification/attachment creates false sense of I, also called individual soul (Jiva).
- Self-Realisation replaces false, “I” (conditioned consciousness or individual consciousness) with true, “I” (pure consciousness).
- For happiness, mind needs purpose/goal. If rajas/tamas drive the life, this would not lead to long-term happiness. There will just be moments of pleasure and sorrow.
- Non-doership, Singing your song (doing Swadharma), realising Self, abiding in Self (separate from the influence of gunas), purifying binding vasanas, attitude of service towards Self is the workable attitude for long-term happiness. This should be the goal of the mind.
- Service should be offered to the Self as per Swadharma. If due to certain reason one is not able to offer Swadharma, Law of Attraction# can be used. The results need to be accepted as they are in any situation as the whole universe has conspired to provide them.
*Strictly speaking there is no world “out” there as everything is made up of consciousness. However, it does appear to Jiva that there is creation. Since, it appears to be a creation hence the word apparent.
#This should be a rare practice as there is nothing called ideal work and there is no limit to more. There can always be a work that one is not aware of that one can do better than the most. It is a better policy to abide in Self while involved in whatever we are doing. After all, we must be reasonably good in whatever we are doing or others would not have accepted us in our current job.
Can Consciousness Increase
Q: Does consciousness increase on enlightenment?
A: Let us look at this from two perspectives:
- From the perspective of Self: Self is pure consciousness (chinmatra) which never changes. So, from absolute perspective, consciousness does not increase or decrease.
- From the perspective of Jiva: As sattvic guna increases tamasic guna decreases. Tamas is responsible for mindlessness. Decrease in mindlessness is increase in mindfulness. So, from the perspective of Jiva (reflected consciousness or chidabhasa) mindfulness increases on enlightenment as sattvic guna increases.
Self Realisation & Self Actualisation
Self Realisation or Enlightenment means direct knowledge of the Self. It is a realisation that you are impersonal awareness. This realisation takes place in the mind but may not change the unconscious mind completely since unconscious mind is programmed for several years. However, this realisation slowly changes the depth of the mind as one gets to see more clearly how thoughts arise and is therefore able to purify the mind. As mind rewires itself, the general feeling of bliss increases. When the mind steadily abides in Self, it is Self Actualisation. Self Actualisation implies happiness by default.
![Yogi with happy mind abiding in Self neither grieves for anybody nor expects anything. [Bhagavad Gita 18.54]](https://i0.wp.com/lh5.ggpht.com/-I7iWhxSYA8Q/Ur0Ev5cw9FI/AAAAAAAAArA/3h4rTjz72Gk/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png "Bhagavad Gita 18.54"){kind=small}
[Bhagavad Gita 18.54]
The above implies that the Yogi with happy mind abiding in Self neither grieves for anybody nor expects anything.
Dashehara Festival Symbolism
Here is one way of looking at the symbolism of Dashehara:
Ravan has 10 heads which is the symbol of strong egotism (Ego + Doership = Egotism).
Ram is the symbol of pure Consciousness.
Dashehara is the day when egotism is defeated by pure Consciousness. It can be viewed as enlightenment.
What is the purpose of life?
Q: What is the purpose of life?
A: What if a bacteria asked this question? Probably, the answer saying, “You were the outcome of evolution and came to survive more hostile antibiotics” would be satisfactory. What if a mosquito asked this question? Probably, the answer saying, “You were the outcome of evolution and came to survive more hostile repellents and suck the blood cleverly without making much noise etc.” would be satisfactory. Since we humans consider ourselves special having far superior intellect & networking ability, many of us will not be satisfied with the answer that we are merely a product of evolution. We would ask how did evolution start followed by a series of whys leading to the direction of big bang. But if we consider a 6 foot tall man in comparison to the universe/multiverse then he may only be marginally better of than a mosquito in grand scheme of things.
On a more serious note, an individual in reality is consciousness which is U-kāra (formless/shapeless) about which the individual does not know and he/she continues to identify himself/herself with body-mind. The dream of consciousness is A-kāra (shape, i.e. the body). When it is realised that false identification was made and the real nature is revealed as consciousness, there is Ma-kāra (merging, wisdom). So, AUM sums it up. Besides playing life following the code of conduct of the dreamworld, your purpose can be to realise your true nature which is not the body-mind complex but is pure consciousness.
I Am Awareness – Sudden Realisation
My mind has been contemplating on the teachings of Vedanta, Ramana Maharshi and others and has been going through Self inquiry. A blog post about Self inquiry negating the panchakoshas can be seen here. Ramana Maharshi teaches about doing Self inquiry on, “Who Am I” which also was done.
While contemplating, many thoughts came to my mind, like:
When I say, I am going, here I = body.
When I say, I am eating, here I = body.
When I say, I am exercising, here I = body.
When I say, I am happy, here I = mind.
When I say, I am sad, here I = mind.
When I say, I am solving puzzle, here I = intellect.
When I say, I am in trans, here I = bliss.
So, am I the body or the mind or the intellect or the bliss? Who Am I really? Which is the real me? This means that I am something else that identifies itself with body sometimes, with mind sometimes, with intellect sometimes etc. Intellectually, the answer was known but realisation had not taken place. Suddenly, a realisation came in a flash while reading an article related to Vedanta that I am awareness expressing in different ways. When awareness identifies with body, “I” becomes body. When awareness identifies with mind, “I” becomes mind.