|
216. LOGIC HAS ITS OWN LIMITATIONS. WHAT ARE THEY? (179)
Lower logic is divided into inductive and deductive. Both of them concern themselves
only with objects assumed to be existing, and deal with evidence and facts distinct
and separate one from the other.
But when the very existence of the world – gross as well as subtle – is disputed and
has to be proved, neither of these approaches helps us. Because here, the ‘I’-principle or subjective Awareness is the only thing admitted to be existing. Here, it is the higher
logic alone that can help us in the proper manner. Lower logic can never do it.
To the ordinary man, the only evidence available regarding the existence of the
world is the evidence offered by the five sense organs. It is ‘evidence’ that is taken up
here, and examined to show that it does not prove the world at all. But it proves only
sense perceptions, or the senses themselves. In other words, the evidence proves
nothing but the evidence. Therefore, it is no evidence at all, as far as the fact to be
proved is concerned.
If you assert that the world exists, it is your burden to prove that it does. The opponent
has only to deny it, until the existence is proved beyond doubt. Ultimately, even
if you give up all argument and say ‘I know the world and so it must exist’, that also
cannot hold good, because you cannot know any object except through one of the
sense organs. When this is so, it proves again that it is that sense perception or sense
alone that is known, and not the object nor the world.
276. LONG PRACTICE MAKES EVEN WRONG APPEAR RIGHT. (A story) (239)
There was a palace cook who usually diluted the milk for the king, keeping a portion
of the milk for himself. The king got accustomed to it and believed it was pure milk.
Subsequently, a new cook came and gave the king pure milk instead. This upset the
king’s stomach. At first, the king thought that the new cook was in the wrong and
scolded him for negligence. But eventually the king understood that the old cook had
regularly cheated him.
This is exactly the nature of our view of the Reality. We are so accustomed to its
perverted form that we take the form alone as real and take no note of the substance.
At last, when the Truth is revealed to us by the Guru, we look back and recognize our
long-standing mistake.
305. IT IS OFTEN SAID: ‘THAT IS THIS.’ WHAT DOES IT MEAN? (2)
Concepts of time and space, ‘then’ and ‘there’, added to a thing = ‘that’
Concepts of time and space, ‘now’ and ‘here’, added to a thing = ‘this’
Take away space and time from both, and what remains over is neither ‘that’ nor
‘this’. It is Atma which transcends time and space.
341. WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN FEELING, DEEP SLEEP AND THE
EXPERIENCE OF ‘I AM’? (38)
Can I think of any feeling, for example hate? No. Hate as such can never be an object
of thought. Hate cannot stand divorced from the objects with which it is connected.
You cannot conceive of hatred. It can never appear by itself. Thoughts have to be
indented upon to lead you on to it; and they themselves suddenly expire, plunging you
into the experience called feeling, which is beyond all thought.
It is in the same manner that you think of deep sleep. You think of all things connected
with deep sleep, other than deep sleep itself. At last all thoughts expire, and
you are left alone in the state called deep sleep.
Similarly, in the thought about yourself, you think about your body, senses and
mind – all distinct and separate from you – and dismiss them. When all those thoughts
expire, you are left alone in yourself. You are that principle which remains over, even
after everything perceivable has been eliminated from you.
382. EXPERIENCE OF HAPPINESS IN DEEP SLEEP – AN ANALOGY (79)
Suppose a bucket is lost in a deep well, and you dive down to the bottom to make a
search. You touch the bucket there at the bottom, and come up to the surface. Coming
out of the water, you say you found the bucket. But the bucket was really found while
you were under the water, where there was no medium to express that experience.
Similarly, Happiness was experienced in deep sleep, but you get hold of a medium
to express that experience only after coming to the waking state.
Experience is always beyond the mind. The personal ‘I’ knows it only when the ‘I’
comes to that realm of the mind. Still others come to know it when you give it a gross
form by putting it into words. But the experience was clearly beyond the mind.
397. YOU SEE THE REALITY ALONE. (94)
When an object is proved to be unreal now, its existence in the past and the future is
also proved to be unreal. So an object is unreal from start to finish.
What is the proof of an object? You say you see an object. But you actually see
only form. Form is nothing but seeing. So you see only seeing. But did you really see
even seeing? No. Because seeing can never exist distinct and separate from you. So
you did not see at all. Therefore no object exists.
The fact that you see can alone be admitted. But what did you see? Nothing. Neither
form nor anything else. Still, the fact that you saw cannot be denied. Therefore,
you are seeing the Reality itself and nothing else.
482. WHERE IS THE WORLD FROM THE STANDPOINT OF EXPERIENCE? (179)
Experience alone is the proof of the existence of everything. Therefore, what is present
in experience alone can be real.
Experience, which is apparently inside, has nothing in it but knowledge and Happiness.
The world is nowhere in the experience and so the world is non-existent.
Therefore, the experience is neither of the world nor as the world, since the world is
non-existent.
520. HOW CONFUSION ARISES WITH REGARD TO THE WITNESS (217)
Suppose you are the witness to a particular thought. A little later, you remember that
thought and you say you had that thought some time ago – assuming thereby that you were the thinker when the first thought occurred, though you were then really the
witness of that thought.
This unwarranted change in your relationship with a particular thought – from when
the thought occurs to when you remember it – is alone responsible for the whole
confusion with regard to the witness.
When you seem to remember a past thought, it is really a fresh thought by itself and
it has no direct relationship with the old one. Even when you are remembering, you
are the witness to that thought of remembrance. So you never change the role of your
witnesshood, however much your activities may change.
655. WHAT IS THE GUARANTEE THAT REALIZATION WILL NOT LAPSE? (351)
If it is something you get at this moment you may very well lose it later. However,
your liberation is not an escape from bondage but an expression of real freedom
behind that apparent bondage, knowing that bondage also is but an expression of
freedom.
Bondage is ego, and the essence of ego is my real self – Consciousness.
718. THE FALLACY OF ‘TIME’ (414)
1. Time is believed to be composed of the past, present and future. Of these three, the
past is past only in reference to the present and the present is present only in relation
to the past, future is future only in reference to the present. So all three being
interdependent, even for their very existence, it has to be admitted by sheer force
of logic that none of them is real. Therefore, time is not.
2. Experience is the only criterion by which the reality of anything can be decided.
Of the three categories of time, past and future are not experienced by any, except
when they appear in the present. Then it can be considered only as present.
Even this present – when minutely examined – reduces itself into a moment
which slips into the past before you begin to perceive it, just like a geometrical
point. It is nobody’s experience. It is only a compromise between past and future
as a meeting point.
Thus present itself being only imaginary, past and future are equally so. Therefore,
time is not.
743. WHAT IS WITNESSED? (439)
Only illusion. In the illustration of the figure in the rock, the ‘figure-illusion’ is witnessed
by the rock. Similarly, everything other than Consciousness is witnessed by
Consciousness. So actions, perceptions, thoughts, feelings etc. are all witnessed by
consciousness. But these do not really exist. Neither does the figure. The figureillusion
alone is witnessed by the rock, and the object-illusion alone is witnessed by
consciousness.
Proceed to page of quotes selected from the second half of the book. |
