Self awareness is a work only

[dattaswami]

The verbal noun is verb itself and is not worker. The vacuum becomes the self in awareness

Knowledge is the process of knowing and it is a verbal noun, which is nothing but the verb itself. Walk is verbal noun, which means that the verb is in the form of a noun and this does not mean that the verbal noun is different from the verb. The Advaita philosophers speak about the knowledge remaining without object and they say that it is knowledge of knowledge or awareness of awareness or self knowledge or self awareness. Knowledge cannot become the work as well as the object. It is work only.

There cannot be walk of walking or talk of talking or sight of seeing. In the self awareness, the awareness is the work or process of knowing and that cannot become the object also simultaneously. When you are aware of yourself, you are aware of your physical body. The physical body is the object and awareness is the work. Both are quite different from each other. Similarly in the awareness of awareness or knowledge of knowledge, the object is blank space or vacuum, which is the primordial energy or the inert energy. The basic form of awareness or knowledge is this inert energy only and hence it can be called as the self of awareness or knowledge.

This self or inert energy becomes the object and hence in the word ‘Self knowledge’ or ‘self awareness’, the self is inert energy or space. The worker may be the body (kartaa) or may be the inert energy (kaarakam) present in the body. The work is neither the body nor the inert energy. In this sutra the work is denied to be the body and it simultaneously means the inert energy also present in the body.

[MMC]

Self realization is the first step on any path.

[dattaswami]

Self realization is the first step on any path.

The word Atma (Self) is common in both Jeevatma (Soul) and Paramatma (Lord). The word collector is common in both District collector and Bill collector. You are asking for the address of collector. The address of bill collector is different from district collector. The purpose to meet the collector must also be specified, which indicates whether you have to meet the district collector or bill collector. Therefore, the self-realisation, which means reaching either Jeevatma or Paramatma must be clarified. If you reach Jeevatma, there is one type of benefit and if you reach Paramatma, there is another type of benefit. Benefit means to attain something, which you do not possess.

Loss means to lose what you have. Some people treat that not to have a loss is also a benefit. But, benefit means really to attain something, which you do not have. If you attain Jeevatma you will not have the loss. You have attained what you have. In such case, you have become the Jeevatma which is pure awareness (Suddha chaitanyam). You have withdrawn the ‘I’ from the physical body. Then you have withdrawn the ‘I’ from the three qualities. Finally, you have fixed your ‘I’ to the pure awareness. By doing so, you have attained the peace which is the inherent quality of the pure awareness. You have crossed all the problems. You have lost the peace in these problems. Now you have attained what you have already in yourself. By this, you have arrested the loss and you can consider this as profit. Ofcourse, this attainment is intermediate state. This is only half of the journey. The rest half is to attain and please the Lord. The peace will be useful in the next half of the journey.

The word Atma has four meanings. 1) The Human body made of five elements 2) the three qualities 3) the pure awareness 4) the Lord (Paramatma or Parabrahma). All these four meanings can be applied in only one place i.e., the human incarnation of the Lord. There is no second alternative for this case, because in the case of Lord Krishna, the external human body, the three qualities, the pure awareness and the Parabrahman exist. In an ordinary human being the first three items exist and the fourth item is absent. Therefore, if you take an ordinary human being as meaning for the word Atma, the second alternative i.e., Paramatma (i.e., Parabrahman) exists and therefore the doubt comes whether the word Atma means humanbeing or Paramatma.

In the case of human incarnation this doubt does not exist because all the four items are together. Therefore, the best and doubtless meaning of the word Atman is only the human incarnation of Lord. The word Atma means pervading (Atati iti). Since the human body pervades some space, it is Atma. Since the three qualities pervade all over the pure awareness as the waves pervade the water, the three qualities are also Atma.

[MMC]

What was the name of Lord Krishna's City? What do you know of the Atma Sarap?

[dattaswami]

What was the name of Lord Krishna's City? What do you know of the Atma Sarap?
Dwaraka.

Everybody aspires the highest fruit through the easiest way. The easiest way is the path of knowledge, which does not require any sacrifice. The highest fruit is to become the very Lord right now from this moment onwards. They like the preacher to say that they should just come out of their house to receive a heap of infinite treasure lying down before the doors. Anybody will be happiest to receive the news that, he has become eligible to join the post of district collector in whatever stage of his study to the I.A.S. Examination he is present. The post is offered to the fresh student who just joined the I.A.S. Course and also to the student who passed the I.A.S. Examination. Both are equally eligible now itself to join the same post. If the preacher says that already both have joined the post and that they have forgotten this truth, now all the effort is only to recognize that they are the district collectors. This gives the idea that there is no need of any future effort. This is the mis-interpreted philosophy of monoism (Advaita) of Sankara.

Everybody is very much attracted to this path. The influence of this path is so much that nobody is coming out of this illusion. It is so sweet that they are unable to leave this state. The basic misconcept is to think that the self is the superself. Self is any living being in this world. Super self is the Lord. They just find one common point i.e., the pure awareness (Chit) exists in both. The Prime Minister and his peon have several common points like pure awareness, similar form of external human body etc. Both eat and sleep similarly. Both are married and both have children. Because of these common points can you treat the Prime Minister and His peon as one and the same? Based on one common point i.e., pure awareness, how can you say that self is superself? Veda says that by the order of the Lord, the Sun is shining. In summer due to sunstroke a human being is killed. Let the Advaita scholar stand against the sunstroke and order the Sun not to kill him.

When the disciples of Sankara thought that they are also the Lord, Sankara swallowed the molten lead and asked the disciples to do the same. Then they fell on the feet of Sankara. Then Sankara told "Shivah Kevaloham", which means that only He is Shiva. The word Kevala (only) is important here. Sankara while taking bath in the ocean at Puri told "Oh! Lord! Though the qualitative identity is in between us, the quantitative difference exists.

The water is common in both the sea and the wave like the pure awareness in the soul and super soul. But the quantitative difference exists and one should not forget that the entire wave is in the sea but the entire sea is not in the wave". This is stated as a message for the sake of ordinary soul. These Advaita Scholars filter all the differentiating points and finally get the common point filtered down into the beaker as the filtrate. The differentiating points are the residue on the filter paper and the filtered common point is in the downward beaker. They see only the beaker but not the filter paper. Therefore, the whole spiritual path is twisted and confused almost all the human beings.

Seeing this situation the same Sankara came as Ramanuja and Madhva and clearly differentiated the superself from the self. Some devotees have come out of this illusion but several people are still lingering there only due to their unreasonable and unimaginable ambition for the fruit. Unless this basic concept is realized, all the stages of the spiritual effort cannot be healthy. The poison injected in the foundation has spread all over the upstairs of the construction. Your question has already assumed that self is super self. You have no doubt about that basic concept. Nobody likes to touch that basic concept. If that basic concept is analysed the entire castle of their ambition will collapse. They cannot tolerate to loose the highest fruit, which was captured by them by the easiest way of self-realization. Now for such self-realization, you are asking whether the meditation or the study of scriptures is the path. When the goal itself is absent what is the use of the path? It is something like asking whether one should pass eighth standard or ninth standard to become the district collector. Neither of these two standards can give you the post. By passing those two standards one can get the post of a peon. One has to pass the I.A.S. Examination for which he is eligible after passing degree examination, which is far from both those standards. These advaita scholars argue that the peon is the collector. They do not accept the existence of any higher post other than the peon.

The reason for this basic misunderstanding is the word "Brahman". As per Sanskrit grammar this word comes from the root "Bruhi-Vruddhau", which means that the root meaning of this word is greatness. Anything that is great can be called as Brahman. The soul is the most precious and greatest item of the creation and is called as Para Prakruti, which means the greatest of all the created items. The soul is included as a part of the creation (Prakruti) and is called as Para Prakruti as said in Gita (Prakritim Viddhi me paraam….). It is not Creator. If it is Creator it cannot be called as Prakruti. It is only the modification of food during evolution as said in Veda (Annat Purushah…). The same inert energy called as electro magnetic radiation working through a special unknown technology is life. The materials of the technology are known and the working inert energy is also known. But the special technology in which it works is not known and therefore, life energy is not synthesized so far. Only God knows that technology.

[MMC]

Only God knows that technology? Man can create another human being now. Man has already created life, and cloned it.

[roadmaster]

http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4217629/k.15B5/Yoga_and_Christianity_Are_They_Compatible.htm

Here is a good link. I agree with them but also will note some call upon discerned spirits. Exercise , positive thinking are all good things for the body but one must be careful. Discerned spirits are like asking a murder to come into your house.