End Of Knowledge

Tag: vishnudeva

  • 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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  • Steady Wisdom: Day 66

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 66

    There is no day or night in the sun because its very nature is light.  Similarly, there is no knowledge or ignorance in me since my very nature is consciousness, void of all distinctions. 
    -Upadesha Sahasri 17:66 (Metrical)
    Meditation

    The sun shines on the earth, making day and night possible.  But because its very nature is light, the sun remains unaffected by day and night. 

    The self shines on the mind, making ignorance and knowledge possible.  But because its very nature is consciousness, the self remains unaffected by ignorance and knowledge. 

    I am that self, void of all distinctions such as ignorance and knowledge.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Week 9 Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 63 – Week 9 Progress Check

    The steady one who sees the same everywhere, sees no difference between happiness and misery, man and woman, and prosperity and adversity.
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 17:15
    Meditation

    Even though I experience the dualistic, relative and mutually exclusive opposites such as happiness and misery etc., I see (clearly understand) that they are all the same as myself, the non-dual absolute.  OM.

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 62

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 62

    I am infinite and pure, free from attachment and desire.  I am at peace.  Objects are illusory and they do not limit me in any way.
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 7:4
    Meditation

    Attachment and desire are but thoughts and feelings that periodically appear in my mind.  As a lamp is not limited by the objects it illuminates, I am not limited by the thoughts and feelings that are known to me. Therefore, when the mind is tainted by attachment and disturbed by desire, I remain pure and fully at peace.  OM.

    Read Series Introduction