brahman
30 December 2011, 04:57 AM
Loved seekers,
Experiencing oneself as a living conscious being is the most immediate and intimate knowledge one has of one’s existence. The knowledge that one exists is indisputable; but what is knowledge of?
It certainly posits a self-aware living organism to which a particular name and particular attributes are attached. But being given, or taking, another name does not change the nature of an organism; so its reality is not in its name nor in any other assumed or attached identity.
However, these attributes only indicates its activities and relationships and not its underlying nature. Examining such notions of one’s identity reveals that through them one knows nothing of one’s own inner reality.
In order to know the reality of anything at all, it’s necessary to know the reality of oneself; to have self-knowledge. It is this knowledge which brings inner peace, fulfilment and contentment. Without this knowledge the most erudite, elevated, wealthy or sophisticated people do not escape the traumas, pains and conflicts of the corporeal world.
Man without knowledge of one’s real nature and being feels oneself to be separate from others and from the whole world. One feels confined within the boundary of one’s skin, a solitary, transitory creature, closed identified with a perishable body, the inevitable death of which is a fearful prospect.
Yet one intuitively feels that one is something more than just an impermanent organism; that one possesses a soul. This however, one sees as a sort of in-dwelling shadowy replica of ‘himself’ which one hopes will survive one’s death and somehow get itself out of the body. About the nature of this surviving entity and its future facilitation, one is even vaguer than of one’s incarnate existence here.
Thus one longs for immortality and seeks assurance from religion, spiritualism, mysticism, philosophy and so forth.
But as one conceives immortality to be only a future indistinct possibility one sets oneself to more tangible and attainable earthy goals of wealth, a successful career, status in society and the gratification of one’s appetites. They are goals which, if attained, will eventually have to relinquish and they are appetites which, not feeding one’s inner needs, will leave a nagging dissatisfaction.
So our desire for wisdom should not be based on vanity or mere fancy but an intense aspiration to know Reality. The intensity of that aspiration generates an element of resolute self- discipline.
Now lets search the Reality with a strong Desire for wisdom, resolution, discrimination and faith that it is an attainable goal; we should not let it defected by dogma, creed or by any other preconceived ideas or isms.
A great year ahead, Love:)
ॐ तत् सत्
I bow in deep reverence to the Lotus Feet of Sri. Muni Guru, my Divine Teacher and embodiment of Supreme Bliss.
.
Experiencing oneself as a living conscious being is the most immediate and intimate knowledge one has of one’s existence. The knowledge that one exists is indisputable; but what is knowledge of?
It certainly posits a self-aware living organism to which a particular name and particular attributes are attached. But being given, or taking, another name does not change the nature of an organism; so its reality is not in its name nor in any other assumed or attached identity.
However, these attributes only indicates its activities and relationships and not its underlying nature. Examining such notions of one’s identity reveals that through them one knows nothing of one’s own inner reality.
In order to know the reality of anything at all, it’s necessary to know the reality of oneself; to have self-knowledge. It is this knowledge which brings inner peace, fulfilment and contentment. Without this knowledge the most erudite, elevated, wealthy or sophisticated people do not escape the traumas, pains and conflicts of the corporeal world.
Man without knowledge of one’s real nature and being feels oneself to be separate from others and from the whole world. One feels confined within the boundary of one’s skin, a solitary, transitory creature, closed identified with a perishable body, the inevitable death of which is a fearful prospect.
Yet one intuitively feels that one is something more than just an impermanent organism; that one possesses a soul. This however, one sees as a sort of in-dwelling shadowy replica of ‘himself’ which one hopes will survive one’s death and somehow get itself out of the body. About the nature of this surviving entity and its future facilitation, one is even vaguer than of one’s incarnate existence here.
Thus one longs for immortality and seeks assurance from religion, spiritualism, mysticism, philosophy and so forth.
But as one conceives immortality to be only a future indistinct possibility one sets oneself to more tangible and attainable earthy goals of wealth, a successful career, status in society and the gratification of one’s appetites. They are goals which, if attained, will eventually have to relinquish and they are appetites which, not feeding one’s inner needs, will leave a nagging dissatisfaction.
So our desire for wisdom should not be based on vanity or mere fancy but an intense aspiration to know Reality. The intensity of that aspiration generates an element of resolute self- discipline.
Now lets search the Reality with a strong Desire for wisdom, resolution, discrimination and faith that it is an attainable goal; we should not let it defected by dogma, creed or by any other preconceived ideas or isms.
A great year ahead, Love:)
ॐ तत् सत्
I bow in deep reverence to the Lotus Feet of Sri. Muni Guru, my Divine Teacher and embodiment of Supreme Bliss.
.