Wisdom Of The Self
Spirituality is all about knowing the true Self through direct experience. The Self cannot be understood as one would understand any other subject, as it is beyond concepts, beyond the comprehension of the intellect. While it may defy explanation for many, there is no denying of its existence – for it is existence itself!
While thinking and doing are the key aspects of thoughts, Being is the essence of the Self. Beingness is the experience of existence; it is the ‘is-ness’ of life. It’s that feeling of being awake and alive, within which everything is being manifested. This experience of presence or aliveness is constantly happening within every human being.
What is it that enables your eyes to see? What is the light that enables us to see not just light, but also darkness? We may call it the Self, Consciousness, God or Source. It is the same life principle that pervades everyone and everything. It is the reason we are alive.
Awareness is the essential principle of the Self. Pure awareness, or pure wakefulness, brings about the manifestation of forms and phenomena. Our mind, comprising thoughts and feelings, is the expression of pure awareness. Our body is a dense, more obvious expression of the Self, a gross expression of the mind.
The human body-mind is a medium through which the Self experiences itself and expresses its divine qualities. Everything is connected. Everything is the Self, alone. The Self was always there and will always continue to be. It is eternal.
When you learn that the experience of the Self is constantly going on within each of us, you might imagine that this entity exists within the human body. And, though it may be considered true logically, the Self is not just within the body. Rather, the body exists within the Self.
All of this existence is happening within the Self. Supposing there are several pots in the ocean. All those pots are inside the water and there is water inside every pot. Likewise there is Consciousness inside each body and all the bodies are inside Consciousness. There is nothing other than the Self. There is only a curtain in between. The curtain stands for the identification with the body-mind. The Self is on this side of the curtain as well as on the other. There are small and large holes in the curtain. The Self is in them too.
Think of a fish living in water. Water is an all-pervading presence for the fish. It is the essential medium that keeps the fish alive. Water exists not only within the fish, but also all around it. Water is so close to its eyes that the fish doesn’t realize that it’s in water. What if the fish swam off in search of water, asking, “Where is water?”
This is precisely what the questioning mind would ask when it is told about the all-pervading nature of consciousness: “Where is this consciousness? Is it within me, or elsewhere?”
The experience of presence or consciousness is so close to you; in fact, it is your very essence. If you carefully observe, you will find that the spatial concepts of within and outside are relative to your body and belong in the realm of thoughts. From the standpoint of the Self, there is neither a within nor an outside. You are presence. Your presence is the experience of the Self.
Summary:
Self cannot be expressed in words. Being is the essence of the Self. Beingness is the experience of existence; it is the ‘is-ness’ of life. It’s that feeling of being awake and alive, within which everything is being manifested. This experience of presence or aliveness is constantly happening within every human being. Awareness is the essential principle of the Self.The human body-mind is a medium through which the Self experiences itself and expresses its divine qualities. Everything is connected. Everything is the Self, alone. The Self was always there and will always continue to be. It is eternal.
You are presence. Your presence is the experience of the Self.
3 comments
Vipin
Anantakoti Dhanyawad Sirshree.
Mukesh Agrawal
dhnyavad ss
Katie
Miss seeing you physically, Sirshree, what an honor, joy, lightness – to be in your presence! Even though separation is merely illusion, bodies are just vessels in Space that I am. Endless gratitude!