Mithya (Illusion)

 "Once you realize that the world is your own projection, you are free of it. You need not free yourself of a world that does not exist, except in your own imagination! However is the picture, beautiful or ugly, you are painting it and you are not bound by it. Realize that there is nobody to force it on you, that it is due to the habit of taking the imaginary to be real. See the imaginary as imaginary and be free of fear."

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination

"By whom everything is understood, but who is understood by none, that is the Atman [Self], the knower of all, known only by keen understanding - pure intellect.

"You become the witness of that which you see. When there is nothing to be seen, the concept of a witness becomes irrelevant.

But of one who can never be comprehended - who can be the witness of that/ Therefore, the Atman is the witness of Himself, because He knows Himself."

-Adi Shankaracharya, Viveka Chudamani

Join us for our upcoming course on this seminal text.

Why Can't I See the Self?

Question: You say that everything is the Self, even māyā. If this is so, why can't I see the Self clearly? Why is it hidden from me?

Annamali Swami: Because you are looking in the wrong direction. You have the idea that the Self is something that you see or experience. This is not so. The Self is the awareness or the consciousness in which the seeing and the experiencing take place.

Even if you don't see the Self, the Self is still there. Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] sometimes remarked humorously: “People just open a newspaper and glance through it. Then they say, ‘I have seen the paper.’ But really they haven't seen the paper, they have only seen the letters and pictures that are on it. There can be no words or pictures without the paper, but people always forget the paper while they are reading the words.”

Bhagavan would then use this analogy to show that while people see the names and forms that appear on the screen of consciousness, they ignore the screen itself. With this kind of partial vision it is easy to come to the conclusion that all forms are unconnected with each other and separate from the person who sees them. If people were to be aware of the consciousness instead of the forms that appear in it, they would realize that all forms are just appearances which manifest within the one indivisible consciousness.

That consciousness is the Self that you are looking for. You can be that consciousness but you can never see it because it is not something that is separate from you. 🕉

The Truth Shall Set You Free

 

“It is always the false that makes you suffer, the false desires and fears, the false values and ideas, the false relationships between people. Abandon the false and you are free of pain; truth makes happy, truth liberates.” 

― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Bonus Quote

"When you know once with absolute certainty

that nothing can bring you in trouble

except your own imagination, desires, fears,

concepts and ideas are no longer binding

and you will only live with the truth."

― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj