by Viswanathan Subramanian
[box]The ego that is absent in a new born, becomes immensely powerful as the child grows up, thanks to various knowledge-imparting initiatives. Consequently, the absolute reality or “Brahman” is not experienced but thought about, thereby becoming a concept, when it is actually the reality that needs to be experienced. Surprisingly, thoughts that drive the world about us or the “intellect” is the biggest barrier to understanding the absolute truth. Viswanathan Subramanian discusses thoughts in the second part of the series on self-knowledge.[/box]When I say thoughts are a barrier, I do not denounce ‘thinking’. Thought has its place in our day-to-day, worldly life. Invention, innovation, technological advancements are the culmination of thought. Our basic survival and day-to-day existence shows the indispensability of thought as the building block; Right from going to school to making path-breaking inventions, to enjoying an organized living on the physical plane. However, this is only conditioned thinking.
In the journey to realize our true self, thinking acquires an altogether different dimension! To quote Jiddu Krishnamurthy: “To understand the misery and confusion that exist within ourselves, we must find clarity within ourselves and that clarity comes through right thinking. Such clarity is not to be organized. It is not the result of verbal assertion but of intense self awareness. Right thinking is not the outcome of or mere cultivation of the intellect.”
The process of thinking – drawing upon your memory reservoir – is by its very nature, separative, or in other words, it creates a separate identity for an individual. It creates a thinker out of thinking. Such a thinker is however, only a concept and not the reality. Your thoughts identify you as the thinker. To elaborate further, this process of thinking identifies you (the body) as the thinker – the thinker sending out those thoughts. When in truth, there is no thinker. This process is only conditioned thinking.
We always see the world around us as many, different entities. This is because the seer in us arises as a separate entity, the ego, or the feeling of “I”, and the thought process splits – there is the world that one sees and the one who sees the world. However, such a world is not independent of us, the seer. In reality, the seer and seen, thinker and thought – are not different.
This oneness, or the absolute reality, is purely experiential and is beyond the intellect! With most of our present-day mental mode accentuating on ‘intellect’, any conviction on truth has an entry barrier. Yes, our intellect has to be convinced, to cross this barrier.
Well, then, is there any method to self-knowledge or self-awareness? Obviously, not. Any method falls into a pattern and takes you away from your true self. Even books and writings for that matter, only serve the purpose of giving you guidance, at best, intellectual. There is no defined path to the Truth. Truth becomes evident only by intense awareness.
“Forty verses to Reality”, a composition by Sri Ramana Maharshi, deals with ‘Self-knowledge’ in totality. This is a composition of immense depth – more than quenching curious intellectual thirst!
Pic : gutter : http://www.flickr.com/photos/somemixedstuff/
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