February 2012
This Month's Contents: Excerpt from Chângadeva Pâsashtî by Jñâneshvar | The Unknown You a poem by Thomas Whitmire | Look at Awareness by Art Ticknor | Quotes | Humor | Reader Commentary & Question of the Month |
Editor's Note
by Shawn Nevins
Careful readers may notice some changes in the next few months. We now have several individuals willing to take the wheel of our monthly mag and you'll see their efforts in the coming issues. While not exactly my farewell, I do intend to lessen my involvement with the TAT Forum. We started this little mag in November 2000 with Art Ticknor at the helm. I hopped aboard in August 2007 and Dave Weimer in March 2009. Behind the scenes, Vince Lepidi has proofread each month's issue for the past four years. Hopefully, one or more of our new editors will be with us for years to come; making the Forum an even better destination for spiritual seekers.
Excerpt from Chângadeva Pâsashtî
by Jñâneshvar
translated by Swâmi Abhâyânanda
Salutations to the Lord of all, Who is concealed within the visible universe. It is He who causes this universe to appear and it is He who causes it to vanish as well.
When He is [fully] revealed, the universe disappears; when He is concealed, the universe shines forth. Yet He doesn’t hide Himself, nor does He reveal Himself; He is always present before us at every moment.
No matter how diverse and varied the universe appears, He remains unmoved, unchanged; and this is just as one would expect, since He is always One, without a second.
Though gold may be wrought into many ornaments its “gold-ness” never changes. In the same way, He never changes, though the universe contains so many varied forms.
The ripples on the surface of a pond cannot conceal the water; this universe of many forms— can it conceal His Being? … Truly, everything is Himself, and He is the cause of everything.
The condition of separation does not exist in one whose vision is clear; He remains alone, amidst all duality. To him, the perceiver and the perceived are one.
It’s the one pure Consciousness that becomes everything— from the gods above to the earth below. Objects may be seen as pure or impure, but the ocean of Consciousness, ever pure, is all that ever is.
… Though the shadows on the wall are ever changing, the wall itself remains steady and immobile. Likewise, the forms of the universe take shape upon the one eternal and unchanging Consciousness.
Consciousness always remains in its pristine state, unmoved by feelings of sorrow or joy; even though It may suddenly become aware of Itself, Its state and Its unity remain forever undisturbed.
From within Its own divine pure depths, It gives birth to the perceivable world. The perceiver, the perceived, and the act of perception: these three form the eternal triad of manifestation.
Throughout the triad of perceiver, perceived, and the act of perception, One pure and primal Consciousness enchantingly shines and sparkles alone.
Though It always has existence, It sees Itself only when this “mirror” [the triad] is present. Otherwise, there is no vision; there is only the [formless] Awareness of Itself.
Without causing any blemish in Its unity, It expresses Itself through this triad as substance; these three are the ingredients in the creation of this perceptible universe.
… The three dissolve [ultimately] into absolute unity; then, only One exists. The three exist in the void of imagination; only Oneness is real. All else is a dream.
By no means may It be understood by the intellect. It is always complete and whole….
The pupil of an eye cannot see itself! … In the same way, even the Self-realized Yogi is helpless to see the Seer. Knowledge cannot know Itself; the Perceiver cannot perceive Itself.
Where Wisdom-Knowledge (Jñâna) is perfect and full, ignorance cannot exist at all; so how could even the desire to know Itself arise in Knowledge absolute?
Therefore, one should address It through silence by being nothing, if one would be free, all-knowing, all-pervading; for in that “nothing” all power exists.
It is Seeing, without an object; It is Vision, clear, perfect, and free. It exists alone, without anything else; within Itself is everything—and nothing.
… It sees without any object to see. It enjoys without any object to enjoy; It is complete and whole in Itself.
Jñânadeva says to Chângadeva: Your listening to my words is like my own hand accepting the clasp of my other hand. It is like words hearing themselves being uttered, or like taste having a taste of itself, or like a ray of light hoping to give light to other rays already bright.
It is like the attempt to improve gold by mixing it with gold, or like a perfect face becoming a mirror in order to see itself.
Our conversation, O Cakrapâni, … [is] like sweetness trying avidly to taste itself. Would its mouth not overflow with itself? So also shall our mutual love.
A grain of salt went to fathom the ocean’s depths, but when it became immersed, where did it go? What can it do and what can it measure when it has altogether ceased to exist?
My plight is like the plight of that grain of salt; though I desire to see you, to play my role, how and where shall I find you? It is beyond my imagination to conceive!
Like one who awakes in order to encounter sleep, and misses encountering it, here I am in order to encounter you who are completely pure and free like Nothingness.
It is certain that there is no darkness in the light of the Sun, and it is just as certain that there is no awareness of “I” in the absolute Self.
Thus, when I embrace you in purity, “I” and “Thou” will swallow each other. Truly, our meeting shall take place when “I” and “Thou” are both devoured.
… It is in this place of inner vision that we shall see the place where ‘I’ and ‘Thou’ both die.
Therefore, swallow altogether these limitations of ‘I’ and ‘Thou,’ and we shall meet, the pure harmony and joy of such a meeting we shall surely relish always.
It will be like taste eating itself for the sake of enjoying taste, or like an eye becoming a mirror in order to see itself.
… The perfect meeting with the Infinite is eternally within ourselves.
Regard yourself as a shining flame burning brightly, without name or form.
Jñânadev says: You and I are one, without name or form; we are identical to the one blissful Existence in whom the blessed merge.
O Chângaya, this knowledge has reached your door unbidden, of its own accord. Go now beyond both knowledge and what is known and reach the final state.
O Chângadev! My Guru [and older brother], Nivrittinâth, has spread this delicious feast for you with boundless, motherly, love. Please enjoy its sweetness. Thus, Jñânadev and Cakrapâni have met and merged, like two mirrors reflecting each other in the eloquent silence that is Eternity.
If anyone were to read these verses, using them as a mirror to see themselves, it’s certain they would find the pure and blissful Self of all.
Where there is nothing, what can one know? The eyes can see, but can they see themselves? How can knowledge be of use when all is oneself? To become one with the Self, surrender all the impulses of the mind.
Then you will know the ‘sleep’ beyond sleeping, the ‘awake’ which goes beyond waking.
Now this garland is at last complete, fashioned of the word-flowers which Jñânadev breathed.
Visit Timothy Conway's Enlightened-Spirituality.org for more about Jñânadev - an Indian poet sage of the 13th century.
The Unknown You
by Thomas Whitmire
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Clouds in a gentle roil overhead, agitated and aloof, |
Look at Awareness
by Art Ticknor
To know the self, look at awareness
To become your own reliable authority, look at any belief or assertion until its relative truthfulness becomes intuitively obvious.
The following assertions are meant to be verified or invalidated in that way. They build on their predecessors, so each one needs to be looked at without moving on until its truthfulness has been established -- but not merely by agreement, not by discursive logic alone or by feeling alone, but by that mysterious refinement of feeling and reason which is higher intuition.
- You are what's observing. (True or false?)
- You are what's aware. (True or false?)
- You are what you're looking out from. (True or false?)
If you've breezed through the above items (as I would have been likely to do) possibly with the half-thought of going into them sometime later, what can I say. It's more of the same, which maintains the status quo.
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Where do all the objects (people, chairs, thoughts, feelings, and so on) that you're aware of appear?
- On a mental viewing screen?
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What are the features of that screen?
- No features ... blank ... no edges ... unchanging?
If you've given the old college try to looking into these questions and have stopped at an "I don't know" roadblock or an "I don't know how to do it" belief block, you may find it productive to turn the light of looking onto the assumed blockage. Given an algebraic equation, I may honestly conclude I don't know the answer when I first scan it. But I have the conviction that, if I put forth sufficient effort, I could solve it. Of course sufficient effort in that case may involve days or years of mathematical studies. What is your "I don't know" or "I don't know how" really saying?
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When you look back at what you're looking out from, what do you see?
- Empty space ... a blank screen with no features?
- The screen that objects appear on and the awareness that you're looking out from are one and the same. (True or false?)
- There is only one awareness. (True or false?)
- The fact that you know you're aware is a revelation of the fact that awareness is self-aware. (True or false?)
What looks at awareness?
~ Contact .
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Quotes....
There are two keys for making this process work for you: From Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez. Those two keys are the "secret" for success in any endeavor.
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Humor....
Absolute and Relative Confusion
If you don't see a video clip above, go directly to youtube.com
Reader Commentary & Question of the Month
Dear TAT, I have a suggestion for our hip readers regarding the question of the month. At the end of the movie "The Time Machine," three books are discovered missing from George's library shelf. His friend asks the maid: "which three are missing?". These are the three books George has taken into the future with him via his time machine to help the eloi rebuild their society. My question of the month is: "Which three books would you take with you into the future to help improve the human race which has lost it's sense of humanity, knowledge, self, god, history, etc.?" What would you say to them? I am nothing? Nothing exists? Just raise your consciousness and all will be well? My picks:
1. Plato's Republic
2. Best technology/agriculture book I could find
3. History of the world
~ Michael
If you care to take a crack at carrying three books into the future, send your suggestions to the .
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Beyond Mind, Beyond Death
