Today we are going to take up a topic on ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Self-realization’ and ‘what is the relationship to deep sleep?’. So, there are many questions people have asked. I am going to answer one by one.
The first question is ‘what is Self-realization’?
Self-realization is a misnomer. Self is the only reality. Self or the Atma doesn’t require realization. Self is called Atma and there is no realization required for the Self. Self-realization involves the word called real ‘I’. Self is the real ‘I’. Self is the only real ‘I’. Self-realization means recognizing the real ‘I’. That is called Self-realization. But Self doesn’t require realization because Self is of the nature of the light. Self is the nature of awareness. Self is the light or the light of the Self, Atma Jyoti. Self doesn’t require realization.
All knowledge happens in the presence of the Self, in the presence of the light of the Self. Knowledge and ignorance. The Self, the light of the Self, illuminates knowledge and ignorance. Then who realizes Self? It is the mind, which is confused about the Self. It is the mind that is confused about real Self-identity. It takes up different things as Self, different objects as Self. When I say, “I walk”, it is the body that walks. The “I walk”, the ‘I’ which is the Self, is considered as walking, while the body walks.
The body is an object in awareness. Awareness is the Self. The awareness doesn’t walk. The body walks in awareness. The body walks in the light of the Self. But we confuse the light with the body. The mind confuses light with the body, and says, “I walk”, where ‘I’ refers to the Self and walking refers to the body. These two are equated. So, there is confusion. The Self doesn’t walk. The Self gives the light. Self is the light of awareness, Atma Jyoti. Whereas walking is done by the body. The body is an object. So, there is confusion.
So, then, I say, “I am worried”. That means Self is worried. Again, there is confusion. Worry is the nature of the mind and worry belongs to the mind. So, the mind is equated to the Self. Sometimes, the body is taken as Self, sometimes the mind is taken as Self and sometimes the intellect is taken as the Self. Whenever I say, “I am thinking”, the Self is equated to thinking. The light of the awareness, Atma Jyoti, is confused with the thinking. Thinking is a part of the intellect. So, intellect is confused as the Self. This confusion creates an illusion that the Self or the real ‘I’, is going through trouble, difficulties or changes.
While the body changes, the mind changes, the intellect changes, these changes are superimposed on the Self by the mind, a confused mind. So, then, when I take myself as the body, the Self is taken as a body, then, I am the body, and the world is separate from me. You are a body, and the world is full of objects. I consider the world as full of objects. When I consider myself as a mind or thoughts, then the world becomes full of subtle thoughts. I consider everything as full of thoughts.
So, to get out of this confusion, many times people use the word called Self-realization. In fact, the Self has nothing to do with realization. Self is already realized, real. Self is the only reality. The body, mind and intellect are appearances and disappearances in the Self. So, what is changing? The body, mind and intellect are changing. The body, mind and intellect which are changing is superimposed on the unchanging reality called the Self, the light, and is confused. Self is not confused. The mind is confused.
The mind gets power from the Self but confuses the Self with the body, mind and intellect. The mind is nothing but thoughts and ideas. These thoughts and ideas are getting powered by the Self only. But they confuse about who is the Self?
So, you can compare the mind as an electric bulb and the electricity as the Self. The bulb gives the light, and the bulb says, “I give the light”. Because it doesn’t know electricity. The bulb is superimposing light on the electricity. While the electricity doesn’t do anything, the action of light is superimposed on the electricity by the ignorant bulb. Here the ignorant bulb is the mind. The clarity which comes in the mind about who is the real ‘I’, is called ‘enlightenment’.
We have a lot of ideas about enlightenment. For the mind, the clarity has to emerge that the real ‘I’ is the Witness, the Awareness which is powering the mind. It is not the body, not the mind, not the intellect, not the confusing or changing body, not the changing mind, not changing intellect. These are all objects in Consciousness. The real subject or the real ‘I’ is the Atma. This clarity has to come in the mind. This clarity appears in the mind when the intellect becomes sharp and intellect becomes subtle. The intellect becomes subtle or sharp by the process of Self-enquiry. It becomes sharp by enquiry into the nature of reality.
So, this is called Self-realization. A crystal clear and deep clarity emerges within the intellect. Earlier, there was a wrong idea that ‘I am the body, mind and intellect. I am suffering. I am becoming old. I am happy. I am unhappy’. All these things were superimposed and confused on the Self. Now, all these confusions get cleared. I am the real Self, ‘I’, the unchanging reality, pure Consciousness which is not affected by any change in the body, mind, and intellect. This understanding clearly emerges in the intellect.
Understanding the real nature of ‘I’ through discrimination. The mind cannot find the Self as an object. The mind only can know an object. The body is also an object in Consciousness. A mind is also an object in Consciousness and the intellect is also an object in Consciousness. So, this object in Consciousness is confused with the real subject, Consciousness. So, the mind cannot find the real Self. The mind cannot understand the real Self. The mind cannot know the Self as an object.
But the mind can know the Self as the source of the mind. I am the real ‘I’, which is different from the body, mind, intellect. The real ‘I’ is Consciousness, and I am that Consciousness, is the real understanding which emerges. The clarity emerges that I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the intellect, and I am consciousness, this clarity emerges. This clarity is called ‘Aparoksha Jnana’, not indirect knowledge.
Ultimately, all Jnana and Ajnana are in the mind only. It is in the intellect only. Atma jnana is also in the mind. But Atma Jnana, replaces Atma Ajnana. Ignorance of the mind is replaced by the knowledge of the Self. This is called Atma jnana. The ignorance of the Self is called ‘avidya vritti’, or Maya, avidya maya. Knowledge of the Self is called ‘vidya vritti’ or vidya maya. Both happen in the mind or in the intellect. In the process what happens that the mind becomes very peaceful and calm. Because it is not getting agitated by everything happening in the world. Nothing is ever happening to the real Self.
This confusion is removed, and this is a process of Viveka and vairagya. Understanding what is real and unreal, nitya-anitya, what is eternal, what is temporary. This discrimination, which is a sharp sense of discrimination, is developed in the intellect by shravana or listening to the teachings of Vedanta, manana or contemplating on teachings and nidhidhyasa or meditation. So, this process is called Atma jnana or Self-knowledge.
Please understand that Self-knowledge is happening in the mind. It is not for the Self. Self has no knowledge. Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. Self is the light that lights ignorance and knowledge. Self-knowledge removes the confusion in the mind which was created by the wrong knowledge of the Self. Self-ignorance is removed by Self-knowledge. In the process, the mind becomes peaceful. The mind recognizes its own source as the real ‘I’, which is Atma.
So, this is one understanding of Self-realization. Also, the understanding of Self-realization is that, finally, the Self is the nature of Consciousness. And there are objects in consciousness called body, mind and the world. These are all the objects in Consciousness. The objects are nothing but thoughts in the mind.
For example, Sun is a thought in the mind and Moon is a thought in the mind. Ultimately the body, mind, intellect, feelings, thoughts, all are considered as thoughts. ‘I am seeing something’, is a thought, finally. All are thoughts. Initially, we have a subject-object relationship with the world. I am the subject. I am the body, and the world is an object of my experience. The subject-object relationship is there, initially.
So, when you realize that the real ‘I’ is Consciousness, then you realize that the mind is a temporary appearance in Consciousness. The mind is nothing but Consciousness only. It is a temporary appearance in Consciousness. The mind, with its thoughts, is nothing but a temporary appearance in Consciousness. And all that is there is only Consciousness.
So, Consciousness alone is the reality, which is my Self. The World, the body and the mind are all temporary appearance of Consciousness and they are made up of Consciousness. There is no subject and object. It is only Consciousness. Consciousness alone is there. This understanding emerges. This is called ‘Self-realization’, very wrongly, because Self doesn’t require realization. It is the mind, which requires clarity in understanding. With that clarity and understanding, I can better use the word called ‘awakening’ of the mind from ignorance.
Q: Self-realization is a process where the mind understands itself as an imaginary object? Mind understands that it is an object?
No, no, the mind is an object. Everything is an object that is understood. The mind is nothing but thoughts. There are only two types of thoughts in the mind. There is ‘aham vritti’, ‘I’ thought, and ‘this’ or ‘idam vritti’. Idam vritti is an object. The object thought and subject is there in the mind. Object thought is the body, the world and other things. Subject thought is called ‘I’ thought. ‘I’ thought is initially considered by the mind as the subject. Now, it is realized that it is an object, not a subject. There is a real subject, Awareness, which doesn’t undergo any changes, which is giving light to this. And that is the real ‘I’. That is the understanding which emerges in the mind and which removes the ignorance in the mind.
Q: How can the mind know its source? Will it not be another idea of the mind?
No, no, the mind doesn’t know its source. The mind cannot know its source, but the mind can be confused about the source. The mind cannot know Consciousness as an object. The mind confuses the body, mind and intellect as the subject and not the Consciousness. That confusion is removed, and the subject is understood as the Witness, silent Witness, by the mind. So, ignorance is gone. Once the ignorance is gone using the knowledge, the mind is silent. That is the purpose of Self-realization. It is not a knowledge of the object. It is the knowledge of the Self as a subject.
Self-knowledge removes the ignorance in the mind and the mind becomes silent. The mind doesn’t create thought waves giving a self-identity. Then, what is there is the Self, the eternal Witness, is already there. The whole purpose is to remove the ignorance in the mind and make the mind tranquil. And there is an idea in the mind, there is thought in the mind, now, which is ‘I am the Self’, rather than the body is the Self or the mind is the Self. ‘I am Awareness. I am pure Consciousness’ is a thought. But it is a real thought. Not a thought of wrong identification.
Now, at this level, the thought belongs to Consciousness. It is as if the Consciousness is saying, ‘I am the Self’, rather than the mind saying, ‘I am the body’. Because, the mind has found its source, which is Consciousness. The mind is not separate from consciousness. Earlier, the mind was separate from Consciousness because of the identification of the body, mind and intellect. Now, the mind has found the source of itself, which is Consciousness. So, now, when I say, “I am Brahman”, who says? It is not the mind that says, “I am Brahman”, it is the Consciousness that is speaking through the mind by saying, “I am Brahman”.
Earlier, the speaking was happening, wrong understanding was happening in the mind. But now, the mind has merged with the source. The wrong identification is gone. You don’t need to have thoughts. You don’t need to have thought, that, ‘I am a man, or I am a woman’, all the time. That is already there in the background. It is not memory, that, I shall discuss later. ‘I am a man, I am a woman’, is a memory. But ‘I am the Self’, is not a thought. It is your every minute’s experience. It is a continuous experience for you all the time.
So, your Self-awareness is not a memory. Self-awareness is a direct experience. But the direct experience was getting superimposed by the memory, by thoughts from memory. So, that superimposition is gone now. Then, direct experience is always there. ‘I am’, that is Brahman only. Brahman is a word used, but, really, ‘I am’, the direct experience is there all the time. Self-awareness is not forgotten anytime. Actually, Self-awareness cannot be forgotten. But it is superimposed with other thoughts. The superimposition goes. Pure Self-awareness remains.
Self-realization means removing the confusion where the Self is confused with the body, mind, intellect or any object through Self-knowledge, Atma jnana, Atma Vichara, Self-recognition. So, the mind recognizes its source. When the mind recognizes its source, it is no longer called the mind. It is the Self only; it is the Consciousness only. Because, it has merged with the Consciousness, the functioning of the mind will be there. The wrong functioning of the mind is not there. The mind functions as a servant of Consciousness.
Now, what is the nature of Self-realization?
The next question on that is, Sri Ramana Maharshi says, Self-realization means, ‘Mano nasha’, or mind is destroyed. We have to understand this a little bit more clearly. If the mind is destroyed, then how does the Self-realized person function? If the mind is destroyed, the Self-realized person cannot function. Because the mind is required for functioning in the world.
There are two understandings of this. We have to understand this at two levels. From the point of view of a Jnani, a realized person, who sees himself as Brahman, pure Awareness, for him, the mind didn’t exist before nor the mind exists after. Because there is no concept of ‘mano nasha’, at all for the Jnani point of view.
It is like, from a gold point of view, there is no necklace or chain or ring. Gold can only say, all that is there is ‘I am’. So, from a Jnani point of view, from the point of view of the Self or the Atma, there is nothing called the mind. Because Self is all that is there. There is nothing separate from the Self. From the water point of view, there is no ocean and there is no wave. Water can only say, “I am only there, that’s all.”
From Atman or Self point of view, there is nothing called the mind, there is nothing called the body, there is nothing called the world because Self is nothing but light, Atma Jyoti, pure Awareness. Light doesn’t know anything. If you ask the light, “please tell me, what is darkness?”, the light says, “I don’t know, I have never seen darkness”. From the point of view of light, if you ask me, “what is light?” Light says, “I don’t know, I am light”.
From the Self point of view, everything is Self. So, there is nothing to know. So, then, mano nasha or the destruction of the mind has no meaning from the Self point of view. The mano nasha is there from the point of view of the ignorant person. The mano nasha or destruction of mind is possible from the point of view of an Ajnani or ignorant person.
Who is Ajnani? I have already talked about Ajnani. One who confuses, the body, mind, intellect with the Self. So, when Sri Ramana Maharshi says,
“mano nasha”, is not the destruction of the mind. Because, the mind cannot be destroyed, as the mind is also Consciousness. It is the destruction of the confusion. Ignorance in the mind is destroyed. The destruction of the confusion or ignorance in the mind is called mano nasha, by Ramana Maharshi. Not the mind itself.
So, now, once the ignorance is destroyed, the mind is not a mind, it is Consciousness. That’s why it is also called as ‘no mind’ state. When the ignorance in the mind is destroyed, the mind is no longer called the mind. It is Consciousness only. The mind has found its source and merged with the source, which is Consciousness. So, such a state is called ‘no mind’. People get confused when ‘no mind’ state is mentioned. “How can a person with no mind work? how a person with no mind can operate?”
‘No mind’ doesn’t mean that it is the destruction of the mind, because nothing can be destroyed in the world. Only forms can change. The mind cannot be destroyed. The ignorance in the mind can be destroyed. So, the mind has two aspects. One is, what is required for functioning in the world that is to interact with the world and transact with the world. Then, the second aspect is, self-identity, who am I?
The self-identity and transaction with the world, are the two aspects of the mind. Functioning aspect of the mind and self-identity aspect of the mind. The self-identity aspect of the mind is called the ego. Ego confuses. The ego is the confused part of the mind, which confuses the Self with the body, mind and intellect, and name, and multiple other things. The confusion in the mind is destroyed in enlightenment. The ego part is destroyed. Ego is only confusion. It is not the destruction of the mind.
But it is called the destruction of the mind, because now, by destroying the confusion, the mind is no longer a mind. The mind is nothing by Consciousness. The ignorance part of the mind is destroyed. So, that is called Self-realization. Mano nasha means ignorance gets destroyed. So, we have to understand. Ego and ‘I’ thought are the same. First, let us use the word ego, now. Ego gets destroyed in the Atma jnana.
The ego, earlier, was connecting the body, mind and intellect, with the Self. The body, mind, intellect is not the Self. Pure consciousness is Self and I am that Self. This understanding emerges in the mind. This is called the destruction of the mind. Wrong understanding gets destroyed. That’s called mano nasha, by Ramana Maharshi. Not the destruction of the mind itself. Because, after mano nasha also, Sri Ramana Maharshi reads the newspaper, he interacts with the society properly, he eats food. People ask Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi to speak, and he will talk. He has memory intact. If you ask about an earlier thing, he will tell. Actually, he learnt Sanskrit also. At some point in time, he started learning Sanskrit also, to compose shlokas in Sanskrit.
So, there is a functioning part of the mind, and there is an ego part of the mind. The mind has four parts: manas, budhi, ahankara, chitta. Manas means attention. Budhi means intellect. Ahankara means ego. Chitta means memory. Out of that, ahamkara part gets destroyed. So, it doesn’t mean that the moment ahankara gets destroyed, the body will fall. The identification with the body drops, but the body continues.
Because the impressions which are required, which are created in the body called Prarabdha karma, continue in the chitta. They are in chitta, memory. They will continue. We shall understand the state of a Jnani, step by step. So, ahamkara, drops. So, ahamkara is the wrong understanding. That wrong understanding is dropped. Self-identity is replaced with Self-awareness. Self-awareness is not a thought because Self-awareness is what you are.
In the process, what happens? Self-identity is to create a lot of confusions and thoughts in the mind. It causes a lot of thought waves. Now, those thoughts waves stop, and the mind becomes very peaceful. The mind works very, very clearly. Earlier, the functioning of the mind was getting confused. A lot of clutter was there in the mind. That clutter goes. Because multiple Self-identities are gone, and pure Awareness is there. In the process, the mind works much more clearly and calmly.
It is like, self-ego. The ego is like a boss. It keeps on changing orders to the mind. Do this, don’t do this, why should I do this etc. All these confusions are given by the ego. Because the ego is the confusion, it confuses itself with the body sometimes, the mind sometimes, husband sometimes, a wife sometimes. For example, It has to go to the office. ‘Go to office’, is the command to the body. Then, immediately, thought comes, ‘oh! I should have brought something to the house’. There is confusion added. ‘I’ becomes husband in the house. ‘I’ became an employee in the office first, then, ‘I’ became husband at home. Confusing thoughts are created in the mind.
The confusion goes now. Because there is only one boss, the Self, which is Awareness, which is the Witness. The multiple, conflicting, confusing thoughts go. The mind becomes clear. There is no identity. There is Self-awareness, ‘I am the real I’. There is a functional identity. That is not real Self. You have to understand the difference between the real identity and ego.
Let us take an actor. The actor plays the role of a boss, and he plays the role of a husband in a movie. A boss and husband. Now, when he has to play the role of a boss or husband, he has no confusion. Because he knows that both are roles. So, in the role of a husband, the wife will shout at him, he knows. But, while playing the role, that shouting of the wife, doesn’t hurt him. Because that’s a play. It is an act. So, he is able to play the role of an officer, or husband, without emotional interference coming from any other roles. Because both are known as a role and not as ‘I’.
The same thing happens in the personal family. Personal family, he has to go for shooting, and he has to go office, really. Now, he cannot take it as the Witness. Now, his mind is getting confused, and his mind is getting dragged in both directions. He is playing the role of a husband, in a movie, and an officer in a movie versus his really being a husband and really officer, there is a difference. Because there is a personality coming into the picture. Personally, there is a conflict happening now. So, in the movie he is able to play both roles, very clearly, because, he knows, he is not both the roles. There is no personality involved in that. So, impersonally, he plays both roles. The mind doesn’t get confused because of the different functionalities.
But, personally, in real life, a wife shouting and going to the office, creates a lot of tension in his mind. Because there is a personality ‘I’ involved, the Self is involved. The Self is nothing but, husband here, or Self is nothing but, employer, both are considered as the Self.
On the other hand, a Jnani, for him, every role he plays, he knows it is a role he is playing and not himself. Including the body, is an instrument, for playing the role. And he is none of the roles. That’s where the mind doesn’t create thoughts unconsciously. Because everything is known as a role, very clearly, just like an actor knows that these are the roles which he is playing. The actor has no stake in the roles. In the role, he is a hero or villain, he may get killed, but nothing happens to the actor. It is impersonal, the actor is impersonal. The actor is separate from the role.
Q: No stake in the role means?
If somebody dies in the movie, how does it matter? The actor dies in a movie, gets killed or gets hit. Nothing happens to him, the real him, the real actor. They are all a part of the movie.
The same thing happens in the case of a Jnani. Anything can be happening to the body, mind, intellect. It is not happening to the Self. I am the witness; I am the consciousness. There is a separation that happens between the consciousness and the body, mind, intellect in that sense. The body, mind, intellect become the instruments for playing the role. Now, the role is also played as ego. Ego is used for playing the role.
So, a Jnani may use the ego called ‘I am Guru’, for playing the role of a Guru. He uses an identity called Guru, for playing the role of a Guru, knowing very well that it is just an identity and is not real. The real ‘I’ is not affected by any of this. There is no personalization of the role.
Q: So, while playing the role of a Guru, does he get hurt?
He doesn’t get hurt. Why should he get hurt? The Self doesn’t get hurt. But Guru’s role may be hurt. People may shout at a Guru. Then, he may respond in that way, but still with a deep peace and calmness inside. Whatever appropriate situation for the role, he may do.
So, in the case of a Jnani, the ego is used as an instrument, as a tool. Whereas, in the case of an Ajnani, the ego is the Master. In the case of a Jnani, the ego is a servant. In the case of Ajnani, the ego is the Master. That is the difference. In the case of Ajnani, the ego is the master, and the Self is sidelined. Whereas, in the case of a Jnani, Self is the Master and ego is a servant. Ego is used for a role to play, and after playing the role, ego kept aside. Nothing as a part of the ego will ever affect Jnani, which is Consciousness. This is the difference between a Jnani and an Ajnani.
Q: You say that the ignorance of the mind is destroyed. The mind is consciousness only, which means, reflected consciousness?
The reflected consciousness is one with the original Consciousness, now. Ignorance goes. Reflected Consciousness is the same as the original Consciousness. The mind is not reflected Consciousness; the mind is the surface for reflected Consciousness. Now, the reflected Consciousness is the Self, Jiva. So, the Jiva identifies with the Sakshi, the Witness, rather than the mind and the thoughts. So, that way, the mind or the thoughts become the instruments or objects for the Sakshi, rather than the subject.
Pranams
Prabhuji
References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCg21-bHMSo&list=PL-miKJIe40jF84S7rptZ-wpjkA_TEklm