Nonduality Salon (/ \)
The Self, Maya, and the Heart: The
Fundamentals of Non-Dualism, page 4
"Owing to the diffusion of light in the body, one
has experiences in the body. That center of radiation,
the sages say, is the Heart. (verse 8)
"From the play of the forces in the body, one infers
the flow of the light of awareness.
The forces course through the body, each hugging their
own special nadi. (verse 9)
"The particular nadi through which pure awareness
flows is called sushumna*. It is also called atma nadi,
para nadi, and amrita nadi. (verse 10) [*between the
Heart and the brain] "As the light pervades the
entire body, one gets attached to the body, mistakes the
body for the Self and regards the world as different from
oneself. (verse 11)
"When the discerning one renounces attachment and
the identification of himself with the body and pursues
one-pointed enquiry, a churning starts in the nadis.
(verse 12)
"With this churning of the nadis, the Self gets
separated from the other nadis and, clinging to one nadi
alone, shines forth.
"When the effulgent light of awareness shines in
atma nadi alone, nothing else shines except the Self.
(verse 14)
"He for whom the Atman (Self) alone shines within,
without, and everywhere, as (clearly as) objects to the
ignorant, is called one who has cut the nexus. (verse 16)
"When the light, withdrawn from all other nadis,
dwells in one nadi alone, the bond (between awareness and
the body) is sundered and the light abides as the Self.
(v. 18)
"Since such a one has no sense of doership, his
karma, it is said, is completely destroyed. As nothing
but the Self exists, no doubts arise for him. (verse 21)
"Once the knot is cut, one is never bound again.
This is considered the state of power and peace
supreme." (verse 22)
Sri Ramana Gita, Ch:IX, p. 49-55
Another well known Gita is the Avadhut Gita, the only
known work of the Rishi Dattatreya, who lived sometime
after Krishna. Avadhut means high Renunciate or Perfected
Man. To get an idea of the state of one who ever abides
as his Self, with no awareness of the body, I've included
a couple of stanzas of this Gita here, as well:
"Atman is not the Knower, Nor is It the known. It is
not accessible to inference. Words cannot describe This
Consciousness Absolute. The mind is lost in Its majesty.
How can it be explained to thee? Space-like
immortality-giving knowledge am I. (verse 11)
"I am the eternal principle. Free from attachment
and aversion, free from imperfections am I, Fate and
providence exist not in me. Eternally free from the
sufferings of the world, Verily, space-like
immortality-giving Knowledge am I. (verse 13)
"Maya is not my modification. Nor is its glamour
mine. Deceit, hypocrisy, truth and untruth Have no place
in me. Space-like, immortality-giving knowledge am
I." (verse 18)
Avadhut Gita, Ch III, p 25-27
The following are extracts from the Yoga Vashishta Sara,
a condensed version of the Yoga Vashishta, the spiritual
instructions of Vashishta to Rama, very similar to
Krishna's instructions to Arjuna, which also helps to get
a feeling for the meaning of non-dualism:
"Nothing whatsoever is
born or dies anywhere at any time. It is Brahman alone
appearing illusorily in the form of the world." Ch
I: 23
"The Self is more extensive than space; it is pure,
subtle, un-decaying, and auspicious.
As such how could it be born and how can it die?" Ch
I: 24
"O Rama, there is no intellect, no nescience, no
mind and no individual soul (jiva). They are all imagined
in Brahman." Ch III: 25
"O Rama, the mind has by its own activity bound
itself; when it is calm it is free." Ch III 27
"O Rama, this enquiry into the Self of the nature
"Who am I?' is the fire which burns up the seeds of
the evil tree which is the mind." Ch V: 1
"How wonderful that in me, the infinite ocean of
Consciousness, waves of jivas (individual souls) rise,
sport for a while, and disappear according to their
nature." Ch VI: 8
"Knowledge is not separate from you and that which
is known is not separate from knowledge. Hence there is
nothing other than the Self, nothing separate (from
it)." ChVIII:6
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