Even kids know what silence means at some level. When there's lot of noise around due to kids, parents and teachers tend to say "be quiet" or "silence, please". If you look at what this silence means, its quite clear that its the silence of words; as in not using any words. It doesn't take one to "do something" for being silent. If a person says "I'm silent", s/he's broken the silence; s/he's no longer silent. At later stages, silence means more than not talking.
If this simple lesson is compared with advaitic moksha, one wouldn't ask: what do I need to do to get moksha? There's nothing to *do* to get moksha, there's only a series of *undos*. Thats what is termed as neti-neti in advaita parlance. Strictly speaking, undoing something is also doing something in the same way as thinking "I'm silent" is not being truly silent.
So what is this undoing? Its undoing of bondage. Its undoing of false superimpositions. Its undoing of "I'm the body/mind/intellect" concept. Its undoing all the learnings that views brought us from childhood. Its undoing of "I'll believe only when I see" belief. Its undoing of the idea that there's something to do. Its undoing the difference in everything. Its undoing one's own ego. Its undoing of cycles of births and deaths.
ekameva advitIya brahman
If this simple lesson is compared with advaitic moksha, one wouldn't ask: what do I need to do to get moksha? There's nothing to *do* to get moksha, there's only a series of *undos*. Thats what is termed as neti-neti in advaita parlance. Strictly speaking, undoing something is also doing something in the same way as thinking "I'm silent" is not being truly silent.
So what is this undoing? Its undoing of bondage. Its undoing of false superimpositions. Its undoing of "I'm the body/mind/intellect" concept. Its undoing all the learnings that views brought us from childhood. Its undoing of "I'll believe only when I see" belief. Its undoing of the idea that there's something to do. Its undoing the difference in everything. Its undoing one's own ego. Its undoing of cycles of births and deaths.
ekameva advitIya brahman
4 comments:
gurOstu maunavyAkyAnam ShiSyAstu chinna samShayAh
nidhaye sarvavidyAnAm Sri dakShiNAmUrthayE namaH
Thanks, Rags. Its the state that a guru accords to the sAdhaka. dakshiNAmUrti, ramaNa gave the glimpse of that silent self to many a devotees, the silence where the meaning of all questions drop-off!
Commenting on some of Sri Ramakrishna's words: 'What Sri Ramakrishna meant was God was passing the thoughts of the supreme Brahman into the brains of ours which are like the eye of the needle."
- Swami Adbhutananda/Latu Maharaj (About whom, Swami Vivekananda once said, "the greatest miracle of Sri Ramakrishna")
Q: How can the realisation "I am that Supreme Being" be termed Bhakthi?
A: An ideal devotee being unable to bear even small separation desires "I must merge with my Lord". Sri Krishna has said that He regards a jnani as the greatest devotee.
- Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha of Sringeri.
A jnani has neither craving for nor the need to remain in samadhi. Be it samadhi or distraction, they are mental states. He is beyond all these. Considering the depth of a jnani's experience of samadhi, it is said that one jnani is superior to another. This is with regard to an observer. But as far as the jnani-s are considered, there is no such differentiation at all.
- Sri Abhinava vidyatheertha of Sringeri.
It is truth that frees, not your effort to be free.
- Sri Jiddu Krishnamurti
Q: Can the Atman be an object of knowledge?
A: An object is something that cannot be known without the help of something else, but the Atman is self-revealing. So you cannot say the Atman is an object of knowledge.
- Swami Adbhutananda
Oh expansive one, religion and atheism, happiness and misery -- all are of the mind, they are not for you. You are not the doer nor the enjoyer. You have always been liberated.
- Sage Ashtavakra
Q: What is creation?
A: Perception alone is creation. There is no creation other than perception. Perception of a thing is its origin.
Q: What about Isvara?
A: He too is part of your dream. In reality there is neither cause nor effect. One has bondage as long as one considers that one has bondage. He who feels that he is free is indeed free.
Q: Is the removal of the wrong idea that one has bondage the means to attain moksha?
A: Yes. So far, I was speaking with the drsti-srsti-vada in mind. This, however, is not suitable for many people because their minds are not pure enough to imbibe it......That is why the sastra-s do not speak much of the drst-srsti-vada.
- Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha of Sringeri.
Om poornamadah poornamidam Poornaat poornamudachyate
Poornasya poornamaadaya Poornamevaavashishyate
That (pure consciousness) is full (perfect); this (the manifest universe of matter; of names and forms being maya) is full. This fullness has been projected from that fullness. When this fullness merges in that fullness, all that remains is fullness.
- Isa Upanishad
Hey Sudhakar, thanks for that bunch of extracts from respected people in the tradition and otherwise.
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