End Of Knowledge

Tag: self-knowledge

  • Steady Wisdom: Week 13 Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 91

    “Everything is indeed myself, from the creator of the universe down to the smallest tuft of grass.”  The one who knows this for certain becomes free from conflict of thought.  They are pure, peaceful and free from care for what is attained and not attained.
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 11:7
    Meditation

    The inescapable conclusion of, “Everything is indeed myself” is that nothing but myself exists.  What is spoken of as “everything” is merely an idea falsely superimposed onto myself.  That being so, where is thought and how could I be in conflict with it?  How could I be tainted when nothing other than myself exists to taint me?  How could I be disturbed when there is nothing to disturb me?  How can I be free of care when care itself is a false notion?  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 89

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 89

    My belief in duality has ceased.  Of what value is a mind free from thought and desire? Of what use are the scriptures or self-knowledge?
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 20:2
    Meditation

    I have seen through the illusion of duality and what is illusory can have no real value.  Further, value itself has no basis when nothing exists outside of myself for me to value.

    Yes, a mind free of thought and desire was necessary for me to be able to properly approach the scriptures.  And the scriptures were an invaluable sign that pointed to the truth of my nature.  But now that they have helped me realize I am non-dual consciousness-existence, what purpose can they serve?  Now that I’ve found the “object” of my inquiry (myself), I no longer need the “finger” (scriptures) that pointed to it.  Nor do I need a mind free of thought and desire because the direct realization of my true nature has shown me that I am naturally free of both.  OM.

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 87

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 87

    I am neither bound nor free because bondage and freedom are illusory concepts. The universe, though appearing in me, only appears to exist because of ignorance.  Knowing I am the self, my belief in the illusion ceases. 
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 2:18
    Meditation

    I appear to be bound by the universe when I believe it is real.  But the universe cannot be real because it continuously changes in the waking state; it is periodically replaced by an ever-changing dream universe in the dream state; and it is completely absent in deep sleep. How real is that? 

    Perhaps the universe is still there when I don’t see it in the state of dream or deep sleep?  Even if it is, that does not establish its reality.  For if it were real, it would continue to be evident in dream and deep sleep.  For that which truly exists is self-evident and does not need to be established any means of knowledge such as perception.  The self alone is self-evident and self-established.  I am that self and I alone exist. There is no bondage to escape from and no freedom to strive for.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 86

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 86

    I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer.  There is no karma for me, past or present.  I have no body nor is the body mine.  There is only me so what could be mine or not-mine? 
    -Avadhuta Gita 1:66
    Meditation

    The thoughts, “I’m doing this” and “I’m enjoying the results of my actions” are just that: thoughts.  Because those thoughts are transient, they can’t be real.  Because they’re known to me, they can’t be me.  Therefore, I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer.  For the same reasons, I am not the body. 

    Because I am not the doer nor the body I perform no karma.  Because I perform no karma, I don’t reap the results of karma. 

    But considering the fact that I am non-dual, it’s improper to say “I am not the thought of doership nor is the thought of doership mine” or “I have no body nor is the body mine” or “I have no karma nor is the karma mine” because I do not admit the existence of the doer, the enjoyer, the body or karma in myself, the one reality.  And that which does not exist can neither belong to me nor not belong to me.  OM.

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: 12 Week Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 84 

    Arjuna said, “What is the description of the person with steady wisdom, whose mind abides in the self?”
    Krishna said, “When, like a turtle that withdraws its limbs, this person is able to completely withdraw the sense organs from their objects, his knowledge is steady.”
    -Bhagavad Gita 2:54 & 58
    Meditation

    When a person is able to withdraw their sense organs from objects, they are said to have steady wisdom.  There is no objection here.  But because I am not a person, nor do I admit the reality of the senses and their objects, how can I, the non-dual self, have steady wisdom?  As the one, unchanging reality, steadiness is my nature, not something I gain from a particular state of mind.  OM.      

    Read Series Introduction