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Since ultimately all transactions, even the good, are perishable onemight be tempted to despair - yet there is a way out: cut loose expectations ofsecurity and permanence and take what comes for what it is; experience thechanges without clinging, and understand that non-attachment frees the mindto seek the Self’s lasting bliss. Though courage and honesty are required,living in the now is infinitely more satisfying than living with expectations.Once this fact sinks in, one takes the obvious imperfections of time-boundlife as an attractive advertisement for Self-Knowledge.The second reason for discriminating away the belief in the body,mind, and intellect as self is more subtle - because they are "perceivedobjects." That physical objects are perceived is easy to grasp. Nor does ittake a genius to see that ideas and emotions also perceived objects. Thisverse takes us a step deeper, informing us that the three bodies themselves areperceived objects.What does this mean? When we think, we see the thought. But whydon’t we see the thinker seen with the same clarity? Because, we think weare the thinker. The verse says the intellect (the thinker), the mind (thefeeler/emoter), and the physical body (sense organs) are perceived objects.Who perceives them? The Self.This teaching is based on a simple fact - one cannot be what oneperceives. 55 For example, you see your hand. Are you the hand? The handis just insentient meat. Identifying with the body, the hand seems to be you,but actually you are the perceiver. Common sense tells us that the perceivercannot be the perceived. Applying this simple principle to every part of yourbeing (mind, intellect, ego, and Unconscious) see that you are none of it.Though discrimination is usually not an issue during periods ofhappiness, a serious seeker should continue to inquire “Who's happy. If theone feeling wonderful at the moment wasn’t previously feeling so good, theego, an object of perception, has been identified. Not only will the inquiryidentify the Self by default but it will remove the expectation that thehappiness will last, since the ego is known to constantly change.Discriminating the Self (the ultimate subject) from the not-Self (thebodies and their objects) is difficult because conditioning has inextricablybound us to "perceived objects," subtle and gross. The text is notsuggesting the ego be weaned from its attachments, although that never55 That this truth is contradicted by a more profound truth (that the perceiver and the perceived are one) iscaused by the fact that the former is intended to help the discriminator out of Maya (the world) where the lawsof duality are at work. When the discrimination is successful and the Self realized, no separation exists in themind between the perceiver and the perceived, although they are physically perceived as separate.44
hurts, but the Self be discriminated from the ego, i.e. that the ego be seenas a “perceived object.” An ascetic ego is not the equivalent of the Self.The Self is the perceiver of the ego and its attachments - or lack thereof.The verse suggests an already-accomplished separation of one's Selffrom everything - which may seem a cold uncaring state. However, seeingthe world through the Self’s non-attached eyes reveals It’s loving connectionto every atom of the universe. 56"Because I am other than the body, I don't suffer its changes.I am not born nor do I die. I have no sense organsso I am not involved in the world.Because I am other than the mind,I am free from sorrow, attachment, malice, and fear.Scripture says I am pure, without thought and desire,and so I am.I have no attributes. I live without breathingI am eternal, formless, and ever-free.I am the same in all and fill all things with Being.I am limitless non-dual Pure Awareness."(31-35)A remarkable description of the Self meant for use in discrimination/meditation.“The impression "I am the Self" created by constantpractice destroys ignorance and agitationjust as medicine destroys disease."(36)Very few public proclamations are in such bad taste and received withas much contempt as the statement "I am God!” 57 Christ, as is well-known,paid dearly for it. Yet, in so far as each of us is unrealized God, nothingmakes more sense as a spiritual practice than consistent private affirmation ofour divinity.56 The ego’s connection is motivated by fear and desire.57 God is considered by Vedanta to be a personification of the nameless formless Self for the purposes ofworship.45
Page 1 and 2: SELF-KNOWLEDGE"I am composing this
Page 3: REMOVING THE WALLIf happiness or un
Page 8 and 9: "Action cannot remove ignorancefor
Page 10 and 11: lowing blissful cosmic experiences,
Page 12 and 13: Something tells me this knowledge s
Page 14 and 15: ody.We aren’t our feelings and em
Page 16 and 17: The belief that I am a waker comes
Page 18 and 19: If I’m the sleeper ego, the bliss
Page 20 and 21: itself out and disappears back into
Page 22 and 23: imaginations; ego, filled with self
Page 24 and 25: The next few days saw many experien
Page 26 and 27: here, however, the subtle part, the
Page 28 and 29: state manifests as awareness and ac
Page 30 and 31: At this point in the text the “No
Page 32 and 33: time when it was appropriate? Greed
Page 34 and 35: Simply knowing that everything is a
Page 36 and 37: in the light of the Self.”(19)Tho
Page 38 and 39: ationalized or self-validating cred
Page 40 and 41: through which the Enlightened Being
Page 42 and 43: Of course the idea of a deluded Sel
Page 46 and 47: Nearly everyone has, at moments of
Page 48 and 49: The complex process of experience i
Page 50 and 51: can't. The creative process is, acc
Page 52 and 53: eautifully mixed by the Mind (see "
Page 54 and 55: (Intellect's preoccupation with the
Page 56 and 57: attentioninwardsubtle bodystilledag
Page 58 and 59: attitudes, especially those which e
Page 60 and 61: specific results. For example, we t
Page 62 and 63: DESIRE IS STRESSOne major source of
Page 64 and 65: Meditation and Self knowledge go ha
Page 66 and 67: Put together, the sattvic elements
Page 68 and 69: Sleep is a symbol for ignorance, an
Page 70 and 71: THE BODYNo particular physical posi
Page 72 and 73: THE BREATHThe breath, as you’ve u
Page 74 and 75: If the ego insists on intruding, ma
Page 76 and 77: of objects in the Self alone and ex
Page 78 and 79: (40)One symptom of enlightenment si
Page 80 and 81: “As dawn dispels darkness before
Page 82 and 83: Listen carefully to the next conver
Page 84 and 85: This, the last, and the next five v
Page 86 and 87: Imagine Consciousness arranged in l
Page 88 and 89: nothing more is to be seen, and whi
Page 90 and 91: The word, it is said, "killeth." Ho
Page 92 and 93: agitationattentionfactor“Third Ey
Page 94:
OM TAT SAT94
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