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The State of Being is not a state of ‘having been’ or ‘will become.’ Atman, the Self, the Soul, is not a ‘has been’ or ‘want-a-be’. Your Real Self is not what you think you were in the past, or want to be in the future—nor is it what you think you are now. You are what you ARE, and what is that? That is the pure state of ‘is-ness’, the pure State of Being.
We imagine ourselves to be something we are not, but we are always who we really are, and not who we have imagined ourselves to be. The thinking mind is not the Self.
The thinking mind means ‘the mind that is conscious’, in other words, the mind that is infused with consciousness. To understand what this means, let us start from the ground up:
Now, what is that which forms the link between all these connections? That is PRANA, the life force. The body, mind, intellect, and ego are infused with PRANA, the life force that emanates from the Self (ATMAN and PARAMATMAN—Consciousness).
The body, mind, intellect, and ego are animated with the energy of consciousness (Atman, soul). The entire Universe is animated with the energy of that Supreme Consciousness (PARAMATMAN). That PRANA is the same (whether identified with ATMAN or PARAMATMAN), and it is that same PRANA that links the Self with the Supreme Self.
The link or union between Consciousness and Avidya (between the Ever-knowing Self, or soul, and the state of Unknowing, or Ignorance) is formed by the power of the Almighty (Supreme Self) and is sometimes called Yoga Maya, or illusory union. By the force of this Yogmaya the multitude of souls (all of us) are engaged in this Sport or Play of Life (LILA). By use of our own AtamSkakti (or soul-power, i.e., Self-controlled PRANA), and by the grace of GOD (Supreme Self), we make progress in dispelling the darkness of Ignorance and ultimately attain the Light of Wisdom by which we find ourselves established in the Highest State of Being, or Moksha (which is simply another name for GOD, the Supreme Being).
For a moment, close your eyes and just be conscious without thinking. . . . . . Now, were you thinking anything? Were you imagining something, or hearing something, or smelling something, or tasting something, or remembering something, or dreaming something, or analyazing something? If you were, then you were thinking.
Even if you were just feeling something, this too is a thought-form of the mind, unless it is the ‘feeling’ of the State of Being, which is a ‘feeling’ that has no comparison since it is One Without A Second. So, very likely, you were thinking, which simply means your mind was active. This is quite natural.
Now, this time close your eyes again but mentally make the following statement over and over, again and again: “I am conscious.”
Try this again, but this time as you repeat the statement, stop ‘listening’ to yourself in your mind and just merge with the thought.
If you were able to absorb your mind into this single thought, then this means you were in the state of meditation.
In the state of meditation there is a ‘cloud of unknowing’ that fills your mind. To make further progress, it is necessary to become acutely aware of this cloud of unknowing, but without any analysis of it. Just be aware that you do not know. (This is the purified mind.)
Now, go deeper. . . Be aware that you are aware that you do not know. (This is the purified intellect.)
Now, be conscious that you are aware that you are aware that you do not know. (This is the pure ego, or self-conscious state of being, devoid of analysis or thought.)
Now this is the meditative state of consciousness which we must endeavor to remain in throughout the day in all our activities. We cannot just sit in this state and wait for something to happen. If we are waiting for something to happen, we are in the state of expectation, which means we are holding on to our images.
We must direct our energy to move our physical and mental faculties to remove our ignorance. We do this through serving our loved ones and facing all of life’s challenges in a spirit of non-violence. By so doing, the cloud of ignorance that separates us from having the clear perception of Truth (the Truth that We Are Free Souls) begins to evaporate. How soon it evaporates depends on the intensity (earnestness) of our practices (actions).
Hopefully, it is now clear that ignorance cannot be dispelled without the energy of consciousness. It is only by directing our energy thoughtfully that we can purify the mind to the point that the mind seems to disappear and all that remains is the State of Being.
Footnote:
[1] Some may argue that a body can continue to live even when the brain is dead. But this is not the case, because without another mentally awake person to invent and operate the necessary machinery to keep the brainless body alive, it would not be possible for the body to live.
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