Question: Is spiritual awakening an absence of experience and the experiencer altogether? Does the ‘I am’ consciousness dissolve into nothingness? Is awakening a lack of experience like in deep sleep? Is our true nature prior to the ‘I am’ consciousness?
Sri Prabhuji:
Is awakening lack of experience like deep sleep ?
Deep sleep is not lack of experience ! On the contrary deep sleep is blissful experience. In deep sleep there are no objects and hence SELF experiences Itself as bliss (ananda).
If deep sleep is lack of experience why should anybody sleep ? All living beings love sleep. After getting up from sleep we recollect sleep experience as “blissful”.
Awakening experience is nothing but sleep like bliss (ananda) where subject object duality is absent.
Is our true nature is prior to I AM consciousness ?
When we say I AM, I refers to consciousness, AM refers to existence. Existence-consciousness is being pointed by word “I AM”. Existence-consciousness is pure subject which is never an object. This pure subject we call as “reaI I” which is prior to consciousness. Being pure subject the pure “I” is infinite – Ananda (bliss). Thus I AM points to existence-consciousness-bliss which is prior to I AM which is nothing but pure subject “I” which is unborn.
I AM is pointer to our true nature “I”.
Here we need to be careful. Water appears as wave, bubble and foam but water is neither wave or bubble or foam. On the contrary wave, bubble and foam is water only.
Similarly “I” appears as I AM, body, world etc. “Pure I” is not I AM, or body or world. On the contrary, I AM, body and world are nothing but “pure I”. All this is consciousness. Consciousness is sole reality.
Does I AM consciousness dissolve into nothingness ?
It is like asking does wave dissolve into nothingness ? Wave was water always. Wave was “appearance” of water. Appearance disappears – water alone remains.
Similarly, “I AM” consciousness is “appearance” of consciousness. The appearance disappears – consciousness alone remains. What is a “thing ?”. “A thing” is name and form. For example wave is name and form of water. Water is the substance. Name and form (thing) disappears into “no thing – no name and form” but substance of name and form (I AM) remains.