End Of Knowledge

Tag: atman

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 33

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 33

    I am not an object of the five senses nor do they belong to me.  I am the ultimate reality so there is no reason to grieve.
    -Avadhuta Gita 1:16
    Meditation

    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. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 27

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 27

    I am not the body nor do I possess a body.  I am not the doer or the enjoyer.  I am ever-free consciousness, the witness of them all. 
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 15:4
    Meditation

    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. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 26

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    Day 26

    The succession of sufferings pertaining to the body, senses and intellect is other than myself and does not belong to me because it is unreal like a dream beheld by a dreamer. I am changeless.
    -Upadesha Sahasri 10: 5 (Metrical)
    Meditation

    The body and mind are a succession of temporary forms that arise in me, pure being, like a series of images arising from the mind of a dreamer. Because the body and mind come and go, they cannot be real. Because I am changeless existence, ever-present as the essence of everything, I am real. Therefore I cannot be the body and mind. Since suffering pertains to the body and mind alone, I am free of all suffering.

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 24

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 24

    I am undifferentiated and formless like the sky.  I am the pure and stainless reality.  For me there is no division or non-division; no bondage, liberation or change.
    – Avadhuta Gita 7:6
    Meditation

    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.   

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 20

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 20

    I am immutable and indivisible.  For me there is no action or inaction, no bondage or liberation.
    – Ashtavakra Samhita 20:12
    Meditation

    Action and inaction depend on the division between the doer and the action itself.  But I am indivisible–there is no action or inaction for me.  Bondage and liberation depend on a change from one state to the next.  But I immutable–there is no bondage or liberation for me.  I am the non-dual, action-less and changeless self. OM.    

    Read Steady Wisdom Intro