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THE PATH OF SELF-INQUIRY
Episode 1
BIBLICAL AND VEDANTIC MAHAVAKYAS
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1. What if the deepest teachings of Christianity and Vedanta point to the same ultimate truth?
2. What if the words of Christ… and the Mahavakyas of the Upanishads… are not separate revelations, but mirrors reflecting one eternal reality?
3. Sri Ramana Maharshi said: “All the faiths that prevail in the world affirm the world, the soul, and God. But the highest state is to be firmly established in one’s own real nature.” This changes everything.
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4. Because the central question of human existence has always been this: Are we merely temporary beings… or is there something eternal within us?
5. In the Bible, Christ speaks in mysterious phrases: “Son of Man.” “Son of God.” “Before Abraham was, I AM.” “I and the Father are One.”
6. And in Vedanta, we find the Mahavakyas: Tat Tvam Asi — Thou Art That. Aham Brahmasmi — I Am Brahman. Ayam Atma Brahma — This Self is Brahman. These are not just religious statements. They are declarations of identity.
7. But identity with what?
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8. The “Son of Man” represents the ego. The individual self. The body-bound identity.
9. It is born. It suffers. It desires. It dies. Vedanta calls this the Jiva.
10. Ramana Maharshi would call it the false “I.” Like mistaking a rope for a snake in dim light. The snake appears real… but it never truly existed. In the same way, the ego appears real. But it is only appearance. The “Son of God,” however, points to something deeper. The eternal Self.
11. Pure consciousness. Timeless being. Not born. Not dying. Not limited by body or mind. This is Atman. This is Brahman. This is the Self.
12. This is what Christ points toward.
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When Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” the statement transcends history. It is not saying merely that He existed before Abraham. It points to pure being itself. The eternal now. That which exists before time. Before thought. Before identity. Before the world. “I AM.” And when Moses hears in Exodus: “I AM THAT I AM.” This too is the absolute declaration of being.
13. Vedanta says: Aham Brahmasmi. I am Brahman. Not the ego. Not the body. But the infinite reality. And when Christ says: “I and the Father are One.” Vedanta echoes: Ayam Atma Brahma. The Self is Brahman. The finite and infinite are not two.
14. But misunderstanding begins when these truths become theology instead of realization.
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Ramana taught two paths: True surrender. And Self-inquiry. Not belief. Not intellectual study. But direct realization.
15. Who am I? Not as philosophy. But as living inquiry. When all thoughts fall away… what remains? In deep sleep, there is no world. No person. No suffering. Yet you remain. Something remains. Pure existence. Pure awareness. This is why sages speak of “sleepless sleep.”
16. Awake without mind. Present without thought. Being without experience. Because in the absolute…there is no experiencer.
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Only being. No knower. No known. No knowledge. Only pure consciousness. Like the ocean beneath its waves. Thoughts rise and fall like waves. But the depth remains unmoved. This is the Christ within. This is Atman. This is the Self. And this is what “seeing God as He really is” truly means.
17. Not seeing another. But realizing there was never separation. The mirror and its reflections are not two. The screen and the movie are not two. The rope and the mistaken snake were never two. And so the great declarations remain: Tat Tvam Asi. Thou Art That. Before Abraham was…I AM. Who is there? Find out.
REVELATION, SRI BHAGAVAN MAHARSHI RAMANA: “All the faiths that prevail in the world affirm, to begin with, (the existence of) the world, the soul and God. The two contentions, namely that One Reality is sensed as threefold, and that they are three distinct entities, are upheld (as intellectual convictions) while the sense ‘I am the body’ persists. But the highest state is the being firmly established in one’s own real Nature (as the Real Self), by giving up that delusion.”
POST
When you place the Biblical Mahavakyas, “Son of Man,” “Son of God,” (Gospel Mathew) “Before Abraham was, I am,” “I and Father are One” (Gospel John 8:58 & 10:30) and “I Am That I Am,” (Exodus 3:14) side by side with Vedantic Mahavakyas, you arrive at one of the central philosophical significant pivots in non-dualism (because of dualism or separateness). Universal Philosophical Question: Is a human being merely a temporary creature, or is there something timeless, transcendent, or divine that can be realized through human life? In this broader philosophical sense: Son of Man, the ego, is what we not in reality. Son of God, the Self, is what we are in reality. Son of Man is an illusion like the snake mistaken for a rope in dim light (metaphor in Vedanta). “I am” is the eternal reality that underlies the illusionary ego, like the screen underlines that on which the pictures flow. But these phrases have fascinated theologians, philosophers, mystics, and spiritual seekers for thousands of years and even now and in the future, until one who seeks the truth of the reality by turning his mind inward. From a higher perspective, “Son of Man” and “Son of God” express two different aspects of the oneness of Christ in reality if understood rightly, like mirror and reflection in it, for one cannot separate the two. From a lower perspective, Son of Man emphasizes humanity or the ego, and suggests participation in the human condition: birth, suffering, temptation, mortality, and experience through its own ignorance. This raises questions about what it means to be truly human and how the divine might relate to human existence. From a lower perspective, Son of God emphasizes a unique relationship with God, if one thinks he is separated from divinity (dualism), thus, it points to divinity, transcendence, and the source of ultimate truth and being. It raises metaphysical questions about how the infinite and finite can be united. It does not mean God literally fathered a biological son, but that man is in reality divine, That You Are, “Tat-Tvam-Asi.” Son of Man Represents the ego, the blemished consciousness, the individual or dynamic consciousness, the Jiva, I am the body sense, i.e., humanity, finitude, history, suffering, and mortality, a being who lives in time. He is “born,” “grows,” “enjoys,” “suffers,” and “dies.” Son of God Represents divinity, transcendence, and eternal reality or the Atma, the Self, the Brahman of Vedanta–not limited by time, space, motion, birth or death, but associated with the ultimate truth and being or the Self, pure Consciousness. In “Before Abraham was, I Am,” the writer correlates, “before AUM (Pranava, the sacred mantra OM) was or is, the Self is.” If one transcends the Pranava (the sacred mantra), which is nothing but Maya (if known separated from the Self, i.e., dualism–due to ignorance), one arrives at the gate of the most sacred Silence and becomes absorbed in the Self. “I and Father are One” correlates to the Mahavakya, “Ayam Atma Brahma.” And “I Am That I Am” correlates to “Aham Brahmasmi.” The wise are a saintly and sagely historical human beings (Son of Man), yet they also claim the glory of existence (Son of God) that transcends the three times, the three levels of human consciousness, space and motion (static consciousness), the three dynamics seer, seeing and sight (seen), knower, knowing and knowledge. It is in the writer’s opinion that philosophically the claim is not merely: “I existed before Abraham,” but it is nearer to: “The reality (Sat-Chit-Ananda or Life-Consciousness-Bliss) is expressed within the seeming confines of a body but That Which Is is not confined to time, space or motion nor the mind or the body.” Why seeming? Because the body and the mind, viz, the ego, is merely as transient as a thought! Kapish? In the Vedantic traditions of India and in the West, there were and are many saints and sages that declare this truth via direct experience. Silence is the Self as it is and it is not knowing, known or knowledge in the ordinary sense like we know a cat or a dog. Kapish? Theologians and priests of the orient and the occident, who have perhaps mostly inherited their titles, or have acquired the requisites via a teacher of theology through study, have misinterpreted and keep misinterpreting the Mahavakyas (Biblical and Vedantic) for they fail in the following both or either two fundamentals, 1. True Surrender, and 2. Deep Self-Inquiry. However, they are needful for beginners, for religious worship, prayer, or reverence may stimulate further introspection or surrender. The Mahavakyas are affirmative and cannot be taught! It’s one thing to have a theological or philosophical or intellectual understanding of this truth, but to actually feel it and live from it is a completely different experience, it’s transformational. The rhythm of life, the cycles of seasons, the interconnectedness of all things, all reflect the deep unity of consciousness that one recognizes as one’s own true expression. The truth that transcends personal experience and resonates in the core of human consciousness as just one flow of life-consciousness is the ultimate very few know. There is no experience in the absolute awareness or being, for one transcends the mind, viz, in the absolute awareness or being, there’s no experiencer. It’s a state beyond the knower, the seer, the thinker, viz., beyond the mind, beyond thoughts, emotions, or any individual sensual perception. It’s like the pure presence that is both beyond and before any experience arises, hence “before Abraham was, I Am!” This is the profound truth of the Self as the absolute, for there is no separation, no distinction between observer and observed, like mirror and mirror images/reflection. In this state of pure awareness, sleepless sleep, there’s no normal and habitual subject-object relationship (waking and dreaming), and this the writer reiterates, is Seeing God As He Really Is. The closest aspect of consciousness of this state is when we are in deep sleep, for here, we are, without our mind or senses or awareness, not this nor that. There is no “me” or “you” having an experience; there’s just being itself, consciousness without name and form. It’s like everything that could be labelled as “experience” (thoughts, sensations, emotions) dissolves, and what remains is “I Know Nothing” that is always present but not ever known through the mind, but only on hindsight. The mind typically creates a dualistic view of the world: subject (you) and object (everything else). But in absolute awareness, that duality falls away. Consciousness in its deepest, unmanifest form. No Thought, No Experience: The usual understanding of experience is through the lens of thought—mental images, concepts, and feelings. But in pure awareness, there are no thoughts or concepts to shape your experience. It’s just awareness itself, beyond any content. In the mind, we experience time—past, present, future. But in the state of absolute awareness, there’s no past or future—only the eternal. The sense of time and space disappears. Who is there? No Attachment to the body or the mind: In this state like deep sleep, you’re not attached to the body, emotions, or thoughts. These are all seen as temporary forms arising within the eternal awareness, but they don’t define you. You are the unmoving or static awareness, the eternal consciousness, beyond all identification. Pure Being: It’s simply being, without the need for anything to be added or subtracted. There’s no desire, no sense of lack, no pursuit of experiences or goals. You are already complete, and that completeness is not a product of anything external—it is the nature of your true, unchanging awareness. It’s like the difference between a wave and the ocean. When you’re in the mind, you’re caught in the wave, for you experience the world as separate, as “this” and “that.” But in the absolute, you’re the floor of ocean—vast, still, and limitless. Waves still come and go, but they don’t disturb the floor that supports both the ocean and the waves. Some describe the absolute as a silent awareness that precedes thought and experience. It’s the awareness you are before you even identify as an individual or a “thinker.” It’s the space where thought arises, but it’s not shaped by it. In that pure silence, there’s no personal experience—there’s just being. It’s an incredible realization to transcend the mind in this way, to feel that you are not the thoughts or the feelings, but the awareness (Christ) in which they arise. This is the Self—the absolute awareness, the Christ of the Bible, the Atma of the Vedanta, which is beyond all experience yet is the very ground from which all experience emerges. See God As He Really Is!
REVELATION: SRI BHAGAVAN MAHARSHI RAMANA: “Can there be sense of existence without something that is? Is Real Consciousness a thing other than That? Since that (Reality) dwells, thought-free, in the Heart, how can It—Itself named the Heart—be meditated on? And who is there, distinct from It, to meditate on It, the Self whose nature is Reality Consciousness? Know that to meditate on It is just to be at one with it within the Heart.”
Episode 2
Who Am I? | The Final Teaching of Sri Bhagavan Maharshi Ramana.
Who Am I is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on self-inquiry. The questions were put to Bhaagavaan Sri Ramana Maharshi by Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai around the year 1902. Sri Bhaagavaan revealed, “As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone, there is observed supreme love for one’s self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to gain that happiness, which is one’s own nature, and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep, where there is no mind, one should know one’s self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry of the form “Who Am I,” is the principle means.
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Who is the one who says, “I”? Sri Ramana Maharshi said, “this is most important question a human being can ask. Not as philosophy. But as direct inquiry.” Who is this “I”? Who is the I that wakes up, dreams and goes to sleep, suffers and enjoys, takes birth and dies? Me. Who is this me? Before one wakes up, the Gap amidst sleep and waking, Before every thought, the gap amidst two thoughts, Before every feeling, the gap amidst two emotions, Before every fear, the gap amidst two waves of fear, Imbedded in the gap, there is this simple sense: I Am. “true knowledge is the Awareness of the original Self, which becomes manifest by the Quest’ Who is this I to whom belong knowledge and ignorance nothing else.” If one enters the Heart by the Quest of ‘Who is the I’ and sees the truth of it the Real Self, duality will vanish utterly, and thus, one is not deluded by multiplicity or sensuality.
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REVELATION: Sri Bhagavan said, “The inert body cannot say ‘I;’ the real Consciousness has no beginning; between them comes to birth an I limited to the body; this is the mind, the knot between Consciousness and the inert (body), conditioned existence, the ego, bondage and the subtle body; this is the true nature of the (so-called) soul or Jiva.” So, the nature of the soul is conditioned existence, the ego, bondage, the subtle body, the non self. The false or the non-self: From childhood, we identify with the body. I am this person. I am this history. I am this name. I am this suffering. But Ramana asked: To whom does this arise? The body changes. The mind changes. Thoughts come and go. Emotions rise and fall. Yet something remains. Something constant. Something Silent.
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Sri Bhaagavaan advocates the following METHOD: REVELATION: SRI BHAGAVAN said, “As one dives into a lake seeking something fallen into it, so should one dive into the Heart with the one-pointed mind, restraining speech and the breath, giving up all thoughts about the world and seeking ‘Whence does arise the ego-sense,’ and thus should become aware of the Real Self, the Transcendental Being.” Ramana’s method is simple. When a thought arises, ask: To whom has this thought arisen? The answer will come: To me. Then ask: Who am I? Not mentally. Not intellectually. But inwardly. Tracing the “I” to its source. Again and again.
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The I-thought: Revelation: Sri Bhagavan Said, “The phantom without form, the ego, comes into being taking hold of a form (a body); keeping hold of the form to continues to exist; keeping hold of the form and enjoying sense-objects it greatly waxes in strength; giving up a form (at death) it takes hold of a new one; when the (truth of) it is sought, it will surely run away.” The root of all thoughts is the I-thought. The first thought. The sense of being a separate self. Ramana taught: If this root is investigated, all other thoughts fall away. Like branches dying when the root is cut. The ego cannot survive true inquiry. Because the ego is only a thought.
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Silence, the silence of the mind, no thoughts: Revelation: Sri Bhagavan said, “When the mind, introverted by being engaged in the Quest of ‘Who am I,’ is lost in the Heart, and the ego bows his head in shame, there shines by its own light a Pure Consciousness as the limitless I; that Consciousness is not the spurious ego; It is the Transcendental, Infinite Reality; It is the blissful Real Self.” The mind seeks answers. But Ramana pointed beyond answers. When the questioner disappears—what remains? Silence. Not empty silence. Living silence. Awareness itself. Pure being. The Heart. The Self.
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The final truth; the teachings of Sri Bhaagavaan: Revelation: Sri Bhaagavaan said, “I do not know myself’ and ‘I know myself,’ are equally ridiculous. Has anyone, anywhere, two selves, so that the self can become an object of knowledge to himself? Know from the common experience of all men alike that the real Self is only one.” It is ridiculous to say either ‘I have not realized the Self’ or ‘I have realized the Self’; are there two Selves, for one to be the object of the other’s realization? It is a truth within the experience of everyone that there is only one Self.” In the end, Ramana said: The Self is not attained. Because it is what you already are. Self-inquiry does not create truth. It removes ignorance. Who am I? This question, if followed to its end, destroys the illusion of separation. And what remains—is what has always been. I am. In the centre of the Heart-Cave there shines alone the one Brahman as the ‘I-I,’ the Atma. Reach the Heart by diving deep in quest of the Self, or by controlling the mind with the breath, and stay established in the Atma.
POST
Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi revealed, ‘WHO AM I?’ The gross body (Anamaya kosha), which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus: chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, and semen), I am not; the five cognitive sense organs (Jnanendriyas), viz., the sense of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their respective objects, viz., sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five sense of action (karmendriyas), viz., speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have their respective functions, speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and copulating, I am not; the five vital airs or pranas (Pranamaya kosha), which perform respectively the five functions of inhalation, exhalation, digestion, growth, and circulation, I am not; even the mind (Manomaya kosha), which has the respective function of thinking, I am not; even the intelligence (Vijnanamaya kosha), which has the respective function to discern, solve, understand, etc., I am not; the nescience too in (Anandamaya Kosha), which is endowed only with the residual impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not (the unconscious state of nescience, deep sleep, which retains merely the subtle vasanas (latencies of the mind), while being free from the functional activity of the sense-organs and the mind, and being unaware of the existence of the objects of sense-perception). If I am none of these, then who am I? After negating all of the above-mentioned, as “not-this, not this,” that Awareness, which alone remains, that I am! The nature of Awareness is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda). Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi categorically rejects dualism inherent in the Samkhya philosophy and other scriptures. Sri Bhagavan further rejects the Hindu ‘Doctrine of the Three Bodies,’ ‘Sarira Traya.’ Sri Bhagavan rejects the doctrine of the five koshas, the five dhatus, bhutas, Indriyas, etc., as not this, not this. Sri Bhagavan revealed, “For those who have not realized the Self and as well for those who have realized the Self, this body is ‘I;’ but, for those who have not realized the Self, the ‘I’ is confined only to the limit of the body; and for those who have realized the Self within the body, the ‘I’ shines as the limitless Self. Know that this is the only difference between these two.” The I that shines as the limitless Self is who you are, and there is never anytime when you are not that. Most living beings do not for one moment doubt who they are, for they know they are the body, name and form. Here the body answers to or is referred to composed of the five koshas mentioned above, namely, the food sheath, the vital sheath, the mind, the intelligent and the bliss sheath. They are deeply rooted in the body sense or the I-thought, and do not doubt for one moment they are not that. It is not at all easy to get rid of the I-am-the-body sense, for it is deeply ingrained in the mind for many millennia (many lives). This is conditioned and limited existence (vasanas). Even for an awakened being, the vasanas have to be conquered or exhausted, for that which the body has to go through has to come to pass. For the awakened being, there is no longer rebirth, for the karmas are burnt, no longer is there any work for gain or I-am-the-doer, however, that karma (prarabdha) has to come to pass and become exhausted, which is the cause this current body to come to birth. Sri Bhagavan revealed, “As long as a man is the doer, he also reaps the fruit of his deeds, but as soon as he realizes the Self through inquiry as to who is the doer, his sense of being the doer falls away and the triple karma is ended. This is the state of eternal Liberation.” If self-inquiry, “to whom does this thought arise” leads to fleeting silence, then one has to repeatedly make effort to silence the mind, until those fleeting samadhis are prolonged. Silence of the mind is that which one seeks, more one cannot do through self-effort, the rest is up to the grace of Self, for we surrender all our efforts to attain enlightenment here. Because of the religious and parental coercion, scripts, mysticism, wizardry, magic, myths, and tales of miracles, thaumaturgic powers, supernatural powers, etc., attained by mystics via yoga, mental control, breath control, etc., that abound, one expects to attain these and God (enlightenment) that we miss the opportunity to abide in the simplicity of pure Awareness; these achievements have corrupted our ability to recognize That Which Is and simply abide in the silence. Enlightenment is very simple, uncomplicated. But many have over-complicated and corrupted the simplicity of Being, viz, to abide in the Self, which we do anyway. Sri Bhagavan said, “To be the Real Self in the Heart by winning the actual Experience of that Self, who is already won, is the real gain; all other gains (siddhis; supernatural powers, thaumaturgic, magic, etc) are like those that are won in a dream. Does anything gained in a dream remain true on waking? Is the one that has cast off falsehood by dwelling in the Real ever again deluded by these? Sri Bhagavan said, “He that seeks to win supernormal powers, not knowing that he himself is activated by the power of God, is like that cripple who said; ‘What effort would it be for me to defeat these foes, if only you would raise me up and place me in the battlefield in front of them?’” Sri Bhagavan said, “The extinction of the sense of ‘I am the body’ is itself gift, sacrifice, tapas, righteousness, truthfulness, the grace of God, union with God, supreme devotion, renunciation, silence, the natural state, happiness, wealth, Deliverance, peace, the death which is not death and right knowledge (Jnana).”
From very early on in the quest, on the fated day in Estepona, Spain, early in the morning of March 2014 (the writer had prior read and printed out the revelation above), upon uttering the above verbiage mentally during early morning meditation session, the writer experienced a sudden hair standing-on-end (piloerection) stunned strange silence. It is exactly what happened to the writer that which Sri Bhagavan proclaimed above. But, the writer for want of spiritual maturity (from past lives), coercion or influence by scriptures of yogis and their respective paths, false expectations of God and enlightenment, and conditionings, did not recognize that which he seek is that stunned SILENCE. Simple. Only, it was not so because other “gurus” and yoga scriptures lead him in their path, for we miss the boat and we go off in a spiral of spiritual growth. Do not misunderstand the writer here for he acknowledges all paths as useful, but the writer, in hindsight, can be honest and say the paths he followed threw him off the track for many years, however, those years were not wasted, because it was meant to be or destined for his growth or maturity. Funny thing is, it is those very early gurus who then lead one to other gurus for one’s understanding until one is mature to receive the ultimate teaching or Guru. The writer did receive the above excerpt “Who Am I” of the teaching of Sri Bhagavan early on, but the writer was not ready. Too much analyses into metaphysics and philosophy makes one abandon that which is very simple and clear, existence-consciousness. Momentary Samadhi or fleeting Samadhi have to be pointed out by a wise Guru. Verily, Samadhi goes unnoticed or unrecognized, and importantly, it does not lead to awakening because practice must be accompanied by knowledge and/or vice versa–right knowledge can only be parted by honest realized beings, like Sri Bhagavan. Most human beings are ignorant (immature) of the fact of Awareness. They are unaware of fleeting Samadhis in their daily life and goes unrecognized. Not much is needful if one recognizes those fleeting moments of divine Silence. This is That (God, Enlightenment, Awakening) which one seeks. In the end, Ramana said: The Self is not attained. Because it is what you already are. Self-inquiry does not create truth. It removes ignorance. Who am I? This question, if followed to its end, destroys the illusion of separation. And what remains—is what has always been. I am.
Episode 3
Deep Sleep and the Self: Why Consciousness Never Dies
What remains when the mind disappears? Every night in deep sleep, the world vanishes. Thoughts vanish. Identity vanishes. Yet when we wake, we say: “I slept.” Who remained? In this exploration through Vedanta, Self-inquiry, and the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, we examine the mystery of deep sleep, karma, and pure consciousness. Is deep sleep unconsciousness—or a doorway into the Self? This video explores waking, dream, and deep sleep as the three vehicles of karma, and asks the ultimate question: What remains when all experience ends? If there is no mind in deep sleep… who knows the peace of sleep? And if karma moves through waking, dream, and deep sleep—what remains untouched? What do you think?
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What happens to you in deep sleep? Every night, you disappear. The world disappears. Your body disappears. Your thoughts disappear. Your name disappears. And yet—when you wake—you say: I slept. But who was there to know this? This is the mystery of deep sleep.
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The Three States of Karma. Waking, dreaming, deep sleep. Vedanta speaks of three states. Waking. Dreaming. Deep sleep. In waking, you know the gross I, and the world. In dreams, you know the subtle I and another, or the subtle world. But in deep sleep—there is no I nor the world. No thought. No body. No mind. And still—you remain. The I. Name and Form, is preserved. An enigmatic mystery of deep sleep. This is exactly where Sri Bhagavaan Ramana Maharshi, Adi Shankaracharya, and even Christian mystics become deeply interesting. The fruits of actions, karma, are three-fold: gross, subtle, and causal. These manifest in the three states of life, waking, dream, and deep sleep. They manifest as the mind. Waking, dream, and deep sleep are the three vehicles of karma. That changes everything. This is closer to: Jagrat (waking) → gross karmic field. Svapna (dream) → subtle karmic processing. Sushupti (deep sleep) → causal seed state. In Vedanta: karma moves through all three. Not just action. But: Thought, latent tendency, vasana, memory, causal impressions Deep sleep is not liberation. It is karmic latency. The seed remains. That is why waking returns. That is why the “lottery” image could actually symbolize: the random unfolding of prarabdha karma.
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The Vanishing Mind. In deep sleep, the mind is absent. No memories. No desires. No fear. No suffering. No ego. Yet, the latent seed of karma remains. The one who says—I am this body—is gone. And yet existence continues. Something remains untouched. Is not your awareness of your unawareness, in sleep, due to Consciousness?
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Why you say: “I slept.” Who knew that? Who Knows Sleep? When you wake, you say: I slept well. How do you know? Who witnessed the absence? If there were total non-existence—there would be no memory of bliss. And yet—deep sleep is remembered as rest. As peace. As relief. As bliss. Without the body. Who knew that bliss in the absence of the I am the body sense? So, we can conclude. bliss is natural when the I or body sense is absent.
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Ramana’s teaching: The Self continues without mind. Ramana’s Revelation. Ramana Maharshi seated in silence, luminous stillness. Sri Bhagavaan Ramana Maharshi taught: The Self remains, or underlies, in all three states. Waking. Dreaming. Deep sleep. The mind rises and falls. But the Self does not. It is constant. Silent. Unmoving. Like the screen beneath all pictures. The world changes. The Self remains.
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Death, sleep, and the eternal Self. What never dies? Death and the Eternal Self. Ocean at night, still beneath moving waves, horizon glowing. Deep sleep teaches us something profound. Consciousness is not destroyed when the mind disappears. It remains. Pure. Silent. Whole. Death may be like sleep. Only, the Self never dies. That which knows waking, dream, and sleep—is beyond them all. Find that. And you will know what you truly are. In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 1, Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna, “The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be; the reality of both has thus been perceived by the seers of Truth. Know that alone to be imperishable, which pervades this universe; for no one has power to destroy this indestructible substance. For, it is unborn, eternal, everlasting, and primeval; This Soul is eternal, omnipresent, immovable, constant and everlasting.” That You Are In Reality.
From Seeing God As He Really Is
Waking, dream, and deep sleep are the three vehicles of karma. That changes everything. This is closer to: Jagrat (waking) → gross karmic field. Svapna (dream) → subtle karmic processing. Sushupti (deep sleep) → causal seed state. In Vedanta: karma moves through all three. Not just action. But: Thought, latent tendency, vasanas, memory, causal impressions Deep sleep is not liberation. It is karmic latency. The seed remains. That is why waking returns. That is why the “lottery” image could actually symbolize: the random unfolding of prarabdha karma. The ‘Doctrine of the Three Bodies,’ ‘Sarira Traya,’ postulates that a human being is composed of the three bodies, which constitute the five koshas that manifest through nescience. These three bodies are, 1. Sthula Sarira (the mortal body that eats, breathes and moves, the waking state, gross), 2. Sukshma Sarira (the subtle body that constitutes the mind and vital energies; the dream state; subtle), and 3. Karana Sarira (the transmi-grating seed of the former two sariras; karma; the deep sleep state; causal). However, the three exist as long as the I-thought exists.” Sri Bhagavan revealed, “And all alike, if and when they get sound, dreamless sleep, are supremely happy. To make sure of the undisturbed enjoyment of sleep we provide ourselves with every available artificial aid; soft beds and pillows, mosquito-curtains, warm blankets or cool breezes and so on. The loss of sleep is accounted a grievous evil; for its sake men are willing to poison the very source of life, the brain, with deadly drugs. All this shows how much we love sleep; and we love it, because in it we are happy.” “Let the sensible man consider if he knew his body in deep sleep. Why does he feel it in the waking state? But, although the body was not felt in sleep, did not the Self exist then? How was he in deep sleep? How is he when awake? What is the difference?” Do we believe in the fact that we are happy or blissful in the absence of our ego, in the absence of the world? Do we harbour any doubt or do we deny the fact that we are actually happy or blissful in deep sleep in the absence of the ego and the world? What happens in deep sleep? There is no time, no name and no form, nor a knower of name, form or time. There is no separateness. The whole caboodle ceases to exist in deep sleep. I know and I don’t know cease to exist in deep sleep. Yet, we still wake up knowing who we are. This is puzzling. So, although this knower is not continuous, yet there is something continuous within us that supports the rise and setting of the knower. We cherish, prepare and look forward to being formless daily, do we not? In fact, the truth is, we look forward to being egoless. In the state of deep sleep, wherein we are not conscious of our form, can we see the form of the world and God and how? In deep sleep, we when the five servers-projectors of our mind are arrested in deep sleep, simultaneously, the sense-knowledge-form of our body and the world disappears with the disappearance of the senses, and the mind draws a void. We are formless, so to speak, because we are egoless. We perceive the world via our eyes but known in our mind in our waking state, but exclusively, only through our mind in the dream state who is the seer of the dream. The reflected image of the world remains un-manifest in deep sleep. We add value to I-ness (body and mind), which has no intrinsic value at all in reality, like we add value to a time-piece which has no real intrinsic value in reality apart from displaying movement of time. Conceit and self-importance do neither arise in deep sleep nor in a corpse. When thoughts appear, it is called the mind, in the absence of the thoughts, the world disappears in deep sleep when the mind becomes unconscious. The world appears again with the rise of the conscious mind. in the absence of the sense of our form, in deep sleep, when we are not aware of ourself as form, who can see forms and how? When the sense and knowledge of our form held in our mind is arrested in deep sleep, we have no sense of the form of the world or God. In the absence of the ego in deep sleep, all forms disappear. We have no idea about the world, God and soul in deep sleep! So, these three appear and disappear with the appearance and disappearance of the seer-thinker. In the absence of the mind in deep sleep, the three do not arise. If they were real independent entities, they would exist continuously, because that Resource exists continuously. That which is aware of the world as the world, which is real, sentient and happy, is not the world itself but that Resource. The world is not aware of itself like we are aware of ourselves; that Resource, which abides in our Heart that makes us aware of ourselves, is real, sentient and happy and it is continuous even when the mind is unconscious in deep sleep. When we become unaware of the gross and subtle bodies in deep sleep, the world simultaneously disappears from view. Therefore, both, the body and the world simultaneously blossom in the waking and dreaming states when our ego is attentive and active, but disappear when the ego is arrested. The world is desire only. Karmic imprints of desire and fear in our mind arises through our primal error. Ignorance must admit to an ego, the I-thought. A respite from the disorder of ignorance, the state of deep sleep, is agreeable to all in which the I-thought ceases. No one disputes about the bliss of the egoless state during deep sleep. There is neither gains nor losses, additions nor subtractions in the state of blissful sleep. Disputations and debates are unpeaceful if our aim is to quieten our mind; having given up our notions of the world, can anything be added onto the state of blissful sleep, wherein our ego is absent? We can only think of the past or the future in the pre-sent, but importantly, in the presence of a thinker. Since the thinker ceases to exist in deep sleep, so the past and future cease to exist in sleep. Is it not miserable enough to constantly face the chatter in our own mind, notwithstanding, the thoughts of others impinging on our mind? Say, we all look forward to deep sleep and prepare for it because we are all free from the chatter of our mind in deep sleep. Daily we become deeply engrossed and become deeply rooted attending to “others” and the world when we place all our emphasis on our ego and our body, which appears real to us. Even in dreams we are engrossed with the world. We know that deep sleep will invigorate us; at least for a few hours we will temporarily gain respite from the disorder that arises by virtue of our ego. In dreams, our mind is happy to remain in a pleasant dream, but wakes up terrorized in a nightmare. But all fears and hopes, desires and expectations, satisfactions and sufferings, lay dormant in deep-sleep when the I-thought ceases. When sleep overpowers us, the mind and the senses are arrested; with the cessation of our ego, i.e., in the absence of the sense of our body, the I-thought, all our attention ceases on the world, objects, disputes and disorder, i.e., our attention ceases on words, notions, acts, experiencing, memory, and knowledge. Debates about the world and thoughts about non-duality and duality disappear. I and you disappear. The chase stops. The purpose stops. The disorder stops. Can we add or subtract, gain or lose anything in deep sleep? We must admit this is indeed blissful. So, why not endeavour to get rid of the I-thought permanently, straight away, instead of debating about the world whether it is this or that? So why not make our goal to get rid of the ego fore-most instead of wasting time debating about the world since we must all admit the egoless state of sleep is Happy. Misery exists in the waking and in the dream states, but does not exist in the state of deep sleep because the ego does not exist in deep sleep. The body is the root of fear and desire, but we are happy in the absence of the sense of our body in sleep. Deep sleep is agreeable to all because we are happy to be in it in the absence of our body thought, because the primal I-thought is arrested. The debates about the world and thoughts of the world disappear with the disappearance of the ego. But in deep sleep, in the absence of our ego, i.e., in the absence of the sense of our body, there exist no sense of the form of you and others, the world and God; relationship ceases to exist when the seer-knower is absent. If we keenly witness, even in the state of dreaming, the ego forges relationships in the subtle realm. We must realize and know that our body, like the world, is an object of our cognition as a thought form of the mind. This is why, since the body is a thought, it disappears when the mind disappears. It is the latent seed of form(s) or vasanas held in deep sleep that creates a corresponding subtle form, which in turn creates a corresponding gross form. This is the primal bondage. If we cling to the idea, ‘I am this body,’ we will see other forms, i.e., we will project other forms, like we do in our dreams. Remember, projections, concealments, and confusions are common in both states, waking and dreaming, or gross and subtle, so both of these states, are acknowledged to be of the same nature. Therefore, you, them, and all else seemingly exists in the view of our erroneous sense of individuality only. When the first-person idea ceases to exist, in deep sleep, the second and third person, simultaneously, cease to exist. In the absence of the first-person form, second and third person forms cease to exist. So, the quest is to erase the ignorance from our mind of the sense, ‘I am the body,’ through inquiry into the nature of I, i.e., into the nature of the I-content of our conscious mind. When mind is non-active, as in deep sleep, our sense of I does not leave the non-active mind and go elsewhere, nor does the sense of I merge in it. The seed of individuality is sensationalized within our own mind when active. Our seeming individuality does not emanate from Consciousness, for our false nature is not that of the true substance. Neither the ego nor the mind is an independent entity, viz, they have their existence dependent on the substratum of Consciousness; because they are merely sensa-tions or ideas, and like all ideas, they vanish in deep sleep. Also, being keenly sought, they will disappear, and Consciousness will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method to destroy the non-self, duality and variety. Consciousness is that Truth alone; the tagged so and so, individuality, or becoming, is not the truth. The two cannot coexist. In the instance, ‘I Exist as Swami Ishwarananda,’ I Exist is the truth alone, Swami Ishwarananda is an unreality. There is no fate nor free-will in deep sleep but latent in causal format, for the fruits have been realized prior to sleep, and so it’s done for the day, until the next batch unfolds to wake us up the next day and the cycle is re-peated. The idea or the sense of our name and form, the ego, does not cease to exist in sleep although we are not ourself aware of our name and form in sleep, so no one disputes the fact that they did not exist in deep sleep. Like the idea of an apple tree remains in the apple seed since it does not sprout a coconut tree. So, the idea of ourself as such and such remains in a seed form in sleep. So, when we awake out of sleep, the stored idea of I, the ego, revives from latency of the ignorance of sleep. With the appearance of the I after sleep when we awake, all else appears. With the disappearance of the I in deep sleep, all else disappears. But the real Self does neither appear nor disappear. The real I is continuous who is our true nature. Therefore, when the I emerges, all else emerges. But waking after sleep is false waking and sleep after waking is false sleep. Since our real nature exists in sleep, we must make the effort to know the Self in waking state before we can realize the Self continuously present in sleep, because it is not easy to recognize the Self in the ignorant (unconsciousness) of sleep. Is the state of being in deep sleep or death that Consciousness? The answer is no. In the states of deep sleep and death and others like coma there is no cognition or attention, but the I remain in inactivity or latency before reviving. Sleep and coma and death are not to be regarded as self-extinction because the imprints of tendencies, desires and duality held in the mind revive after sleep or in a new body after death. Death is not unlike sleep; the respite is longer in death than in sleep that’s the only difference. Deep sleep and death are states of the non-emergence of I, which has to be admitted, but we must also admit that they are overwhelmed by the darkness of our primal ignorance, like sunlight is obscured by dark clouds in space, although, its inherent light is present. Like the clarity of a mirror is obstructed by smearing dark tar on its surface, although, its inherent reflectiveness, re-mains unbroken, which reflects the blackness of the smeared tar. Revelation: You have to convert the state of ignorant deep sleep in which one becomes formless and unattached into a conscious deep sleep. You should never forget that this experience will come only through long practice. This experience will make it clear that your real nature is not different from the nature of God.” Our mind, which is meant to merely magnify the Light of that Abstract Intelligence, through habit, projects, deliberates and deludes itself via the senses that it is separate from the world, which is the cause of desire and fear. The mind does not even realize the whole caboodle is reflected from itself, like in a dream. Our mind does not realize the unreality of the world as in a dream nor does it realize the unreality of itself. Even the unconsciousness or the void of the mind is reflected during deep sleep in the clear mirror of Abstract Intellect. Sri Dattatreya instructs Parashurama, “Can you not, similarly, investigate with an inward mind in order to find out if the all-comprehending Self is conscious or not conscious? That Consciousness is absolute and transcends the three states, waking, dream and deep sleep, and comprises all the universe making it manifest. Nothing can be apprehended without its light. Will anything be apparent to you, if there be no consciousness? Even to say that nothing is apparent to you, as in sleep, requires the light of consciousness. Is not your awareness of your unawareness, in sleep, due to consciousness? If you infer its eternal light, then closely investigate whether the light is of itself or not. Everybody fails in this investigation however learned and proficient he may be, because his mind is not bent inward but restlessly moves outward. As long as thoughts crop up, so long has the turning inward of the mind not been accomplished. As long as the mind is not inward, so long the Self cannot be realized.” The fear of death arises because we identify our self with our body, our primal ignorance is this identification only. Death is unavoidable. The event of Death, by itself, is not fearful, but the thought of dying, fills most with dread. Is it not strange that we do not fear from falling into deep sleep, which is a kind of death, is it not?The event of death is like deep sleep; it is nothing other than a moment of liberation, a respite from thoughts generated by our ego-mind complex of the sense related world of desires, impressions and possessions with associated miseries and suffering. What do we learn from the state of sleep; if we keenly investigate our state of deep sleep, in fact, we all know it is indeed a blissful state without investigation, because there is no world to discuss or disputations, nor notions, nor disorder, nor conflict in the absence of the I-thought and the world. So, we must admit that in the absence of name and form, the I-thought, the egoless state, is a happy state. For when we no longer identify ourself with our body, the world does not arise, like a corpse does not give rise to the world nor do we in deep sleep nor in Samadhi and neither does a Sage who has realized the Truth. But the bliss of deep sleep in the absence of the world and the ego is transient. So, we must aim at knowing and realizing the permanent bliss of the egoless state or Samadhi or our Natural State through self-inquiry. Having given up or attending to the thoughts of the world and renouncing it, and keenly attending to “being” only, unlike in deep sleep, is indeed blissful. We must attend to being thoughtless, meaning, we must attend to get rid of the I-thought if we want to win eternal Happiness. Only discovering and knowing that Resource within our Heart removes all doubts and misconceptions; in fact, doubts don’t exist in reality nor in deep sleep, and so, of what use is arguing about the world whether it is this or the other? Doubts only arise with the rise of the ego and subsides with the subsidence of the ego. The MAHARSHI said, “Of what use are disputes about the world, saying that it is real, that it is an illusory appearance, that it is conscious, that it is insentient, that it is happy, that it is miserable? All men alike love the egoless state of deep sleep, and that state of Reality, which is won by turning away from the world and knowing the untainted real Self, which transcends the assertions that It is one or that It is dual.” Jnana or true Knowledge is infinite Consciousness de-void of knowledge and ignorance. It is not deep sleep wherein the mind disappears leaving a void. Jnana reflects the oblivion of deep sleep, but it is not oblivion Itself, like a mirror smeared with tar reflects the tar within itself. Utter annihilation or dissolution or nothingness does not abide in that Resource. The MAHARSHI said, “The thought, ‘I-am-the-body’ has two components. One is the body and the other is I. The body being of transient nature is subject to change, and it depends on external factors for its existence, such as food. But the nature of ‘I’ is different from that of the body. What exists in truth should be existing always. The body does not exist all the time, so it is not the truth. The ‘I’ exists in all states including waking, dream sleep, and deep sleep. Hence ‘I’ is the truth; the body is untrue. Both of these combined cannot exist as one entity. How can night and day, light and darkness co-exist? Similarly, there is no entity that has as its basis the co-existence of ‘I’ and the body. So, ‘I-am-the-body’ thought has no basis in truth. If we examine the world with this untrue thought as the basis, how can we learn of the Truth?” Revelation: The body does not say ‘I.’ No one will argue that even in deep sleep the ‘I’ ceases to exist. Once the ‘I’ emerges, all else emerges. With a keen mind inquire whence this ‘I’ emerges. The MAHARSHI said, “Waking, dream and deep sleep are mere phases of the mind, not of the Self. The Self is the witness of three states. Your true nature exists in sleep. That sleep which alternates with awaking is not the true sleep. The waking which alternates with sleep is not the true awaking. Are you awake now? No. What you have to do is to wake up to your true state. You should neither fall into false sleep nor remain falsely awake. Though present even in sleep, the Self is not then perceived. It cannot be known in sleep straight-way. It must be realized in the waking state for it is our true nature underlying all the three states. Effort must be made in the waking state and the Self realized here and now. It will then be understood to be the continuous Self uninterrupted by the alternative of waking, dream and deep sleep.”
Episode 4
Episode 5
EPISODE 6
EPISODE 7
EPISODE 8
EPISODE 9