First I thought, “I need knowledge of the self.” Now I know, “I am the self.” Realizing that I am the one true reality, where is knowledge, the knower and what is known? I have always been the non-dual self, untainted by the appearance of duality and unaffected by self-ignorance.
As the Kena Upanishad says, “I am the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of speech, the breath of breath, the eye of the eye.” For how can there be hearing, thinking, speech, breath or sight without me, pure consciousness? As consciousness, I am not an object of the senses because the senses are objects known to me. And as the ultimate reality, pure existence, the senses depend on me and not the other way around (for how can the senses exist without me, existence itself?). Therefore, I am not afflicted by the suffering caused by the senses and I do not need the senses to be the limitless self I already am. There is no reason to grieve.
How strange is it that while I am absolutely clear that I am not another person’s body, I identify with this body that looks and feels closest to me, call it “myself” and claim its actions as my own. But how can this be? I witness the bodies of others the same as I witness this one—they are all thoughts known to me. As such, this body cannot be me. I merely witness it acting, the same as I witness the actions of other’s bodies. Just as I cannot be praised or blamed for the actions of other’s bodies that I witness, I cannot be praised or blamed for the actions of this body that I witness. I am the action-less, blameless self. OM.
There is no illusion for me; despite the appearance of the body and mind I know I am pure being, reality itself. Just because I have no body does not mean I am bodiless. Just because objects cannot attach themselves to me (affect me) does not mean I am unattached. Embodied and bodiless, attached and unattached are dualistic opposites. I am non-dual so I transcend them all. I am ever-free.
I am consciousness—I alone exist. Because there is only me, there is nothing within myself or outside of myself to be known, either one at a time as a series of thoughts or all at the same time as a group of thoughts. But how can I not be a knower if I am not non-consciousness? It is because knowing is a function of the mind, the same as hearing and thinking. As eternal witnessing consciousness I do not actively know the functions of the mind. Rather, I passively reveal the mind, similar to the way the sun passively illuminates the comings and goings of the world. Since anything revealed is none other than myself, nothing is ever truly revealed. OM.
End Of Knowledge 