End Of Knowledge

Tag: End of Knowledge

  • Steady Wisdom: Week 10 Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 70

    Arjuna said, “What is the description of the person with steady wisdom, whose mind abides in the self?”
    Krishna said, “The one who is unattached in all situations, who neither rejoices on gaining the pleasant nor hates the unpleasant, his knowledge is well established.”
    -Bhagavad Gita 2:54 & 57
    Meditation

    I am the self, one without a second.  Nothing other than me exists so there is nothing for me to be attached to.  The mind (and all of its states) are falsely superimposed on to me so when the mind rejoices I do not rejoice; when the mind hates, I do not hate; when the mind becomes established in knowledge, I do not become established in knowledge.

    Ironically, a mind with steady wisdom negates the possibility that I myself have steady wisdom.  Why? Because it shows that I am reality itself, free of the mind, free of all qualities and distinctions.  OM.

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 69

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 69

    Just as objects made of clay are nothing but clay, the whole universe is nothing but me.  Thus proclaims Vedanta.
    -Brahma Jnanavali V.19
    Meditation

    I am pure being, the “clay” to which the universe owes its existence.  Just as all objects made of clay are nothing but clay, the universe is nothing but me.  And just as clay remains clay despite the appearance of clay objects, I remain pure being despite the appearance of the universe.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 68

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 68

    Knowing I am the self, I see I am not touched by virtue or vice, just as the sky is not touched by smoke, even though it appears to be.
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 4:3
    Meditation

    Virtue and vice belong to the body-mind which appears in me, consciousness, like smoke appearing in space.  Just as space is untouched by smoke, I am untouched by the virtue and vice of the body.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

     

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 67

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 67

    I’m not affected by good or bad karma, bondage or liberation.  My nature is ever-free; there is no maya for me. 
    -Avadhuta Gita 4:6
    Meditation

    Maya makes the impossible possible:  it makes me, the ever-free self, appear to be the body-mind.  When I take this appearance at face value, I believe I am subject to good and bad karma, bondage and liberation.  But when I recognize maya as the illusion it is, I understand that I never have and never will be affected by good or bad karma.  I see clearly that I cannot attain liberation because I was never bound.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • What is moksha?

    Q: What is moksha and how can this state be described? 

    A:  From the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, moksha is the direct realization of the fact that 1) You and the universe/God are non-separate from one another and 2) You and the universe/God are fundamentally identical as brahman, the one true reality. To use a common Vedanta metaphor, this realization is like a wave first understanding that it is non-separate from the ocean and then realizing that it is fundamentally identical with the ocean as water.  Here, the wave represents you, the ocean is the universe/God and water is brahman.   

    So moksha is realizing “I am brahman” (Brihadaranyaka Upanisad 1.4.10). Since brahman is “defined” for instance, as “that which has no sin, no decrepitude, no death, no sorrow, no hunger, no thirst…” (Chandogya Upanisad 8.7.1) then realizing that you are—and always have been—brahman means that YOU are free from birth, death and suffering. This is moksha i.e. freedom (moksha literally means “liberation” or “freedom” in Sanskrit) and it is synonymous with enlightenment (self-knowledge) in Advaita Vedanta.

    Enlightenment in this sense refers solely to the direct realization that you are the ever-free brahman.  Since you are brahman and always have been brahman, this is just the recognition of an already existent fact, not the attainment of a particular state.  By extension, this also means enlightenment is not becoming brahman or merging into brahman.  Why? Because you can’t become or merge into the brahman you already are, similar to the way that water can’t become or merge into the water it already is.  You can only recognize that you already are brahman and that you’re already free.      

    All my best – Vishnudeva

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