It is undeniable that the body and mind change from year to year, day to day and moment to moment. But how do I know this? Because I am the consciousness that illuminates the body and mind. Just as the sun is unchanged by the things it illuminates, I am unchanged by the body and mind.
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.
I am consciousness; I witness the appearance of “my” body similar to the way I witness the appearance of a tree, a house or the body of another person. And yet, while it is abundantly clear that I am not a tree, a house or someone else’s body, I think of this body as myself, referring to it as “I” and “mine.” I claim its actions as my own, rejoicing when the results are good and lamenting when they are not. As such, I continuously vacillate between happiness and suffering. But is this body myself merely because it appears to be closer to me than a tree or a house? Is it myself simply because it appears in my consciousness more frequently than a tree or a house? No, the body cannot be me because it is known to me. The body cannot be me because it comes and goes while I, remain. I am ever-free of the body.
Owing to a trick of the eyes and impurities in the air, the formless and colorless sky falsely appears to be blue and shaped like a dome. Similarly, owing to ignorance of my true nature, the pure and stainless reality that is myself appears to be the body-mind. But like the sky I have no divisions nor am I a collection of parts: I am one alone. Because there is nothing other than myself, there is nothing to bind me. Because I am never bound, I cannot be liberated. I am the undifferentiated, changeless self. OM.
The eyes see the world but they are free of what they see. Seeing a yellow bird, they do not themselves become yellow. The mind sees the eyes but it is ever-free of the eyes. When they become blind, the mind does not become blind. I, consciousness, see the mind but I am ever-free of the mind. Even when the mind believes it is bound, I am not bound. For how can I be bound if the thought of bondage is known to me?
End Of Knowledge 