neti neti

No, I'm not. I see it for what it is, desire for illusion, a symptom of self-forgetting due to misidentification with the body-mind. Fool's gold in the guise of promised pleasures unfailingly ending in pain; and the vicious cycle continues. The pure and unadulterated Self lies beyond such fancies, untainted, affected by neither lust nor aversion. Of course, one is free to pursue what appears pleasing to the eye, but one would be deluded to consider what appears as amounting to anything more than mere appearances. That which is without essence, without substance, without Reality. If by the experience of lustfulness, a Bhogi comes to realize the bitter nothingness at the end of indulging his senses, then a Bhogi he is indeed. Otherwise, he remains in bondage. If by the experience of renunciation, a Yogi comes to realize the ever-satisfying purity of Self at the end of controlling his senses, then a Yogi he is indeed. Otherwise, he remains in bondage.

There are various "states" of turiya, and phases of samadhi. What you say is true in the "highest state" wherein one is literally Lord Siva realized. I've known spontaneous glimpses of this "state" ... total free subjectivity(without subject or object) by way of sheer will. Indeed, as Siva, the universe appears as none other than manifestations of My Sakti power... but even then, they are not "me" because there is no "me" to self-identify with. Most do not receive this grace from the (inner or outer) Guru, and so "lesser" paths are prescribed in the Siva Sutras, other than the direct and immediate which is "without support" (shambhavopaya). I found Maharaj's commentary here to be noteworthy. Excerpt from "I Am That" -- God is the All-doer, the Jnani a Non-doer Questioner: Some Mahatmas (enlightened beings) maintain that the world is neither an accident nor a play of God, but the result and expression of a mighty plan of work aiming at awakening and developing consciousness throughout the universe. From lifelessness to life, from unconsciousness to consciousness, from dullness to bright intelligence, from misapprehension to clarity -- that is the direction in which the world moves ceaselessly and relentlessly. Of course, there are moments of rest and apparent darkness, when the universe seems to be dormant, but the rest comes to an end and the work on consciousness is resumed. From our point of view the world is a dale of tears, a place to escape from, as soon as possible and by every possible means. To enlightened beings the world is good and it serves a good purpose. They do not deny that the world is a mental structure and that ultimately all is one, but they see and say that the structure has meaning and serves a supremely desirable purpose. What we call the will of God is not a capricious whim of a playful deity, but the expression of an absolute necessity to grow in love and wisdom and power, to actualize the infinite potentials of life and consciousness. Just as a gardener grows flowers from a tiny seed to glorious perfection, so does God in His own garden grow, among other beings, men to supermen, who know and love and work along with Him. When God takes rest (pralaya), those whose growth was not completed, become unconscious for a time, while the perfect ones, who have gone beyond all forms and contents of consciousness, remain aware of the universal silence. When the time comes for the emergence of a new universe, the sleepers wake up and their work starts. The more advanced wake up first and prepare the ground for the less advanced -- who thus find forms and patterns of behaviour suitable for their further growth. Thus runs the story. The difference with your teaching is this: you insist that the world is no good and should be shunned. They say that distaste for the world is a passing stage, necessary, yet temporary, and is soon replaced by an all-pervading love, and a steady will to work with God. Nisargadatta: All you say is right for the outgoing (pravritti) path. For the path of return (nivritti) naughting oneself is necessary. My stand I take where nothing (paramakash) is; words do not reach there, nor thoughts. To the mind it is all darkness and silence. Then consciousness begins to stir and wakes up the mind (chidakash), which projects the world (mahadakash), built of memory and imagination. Once the world comes into being, all you say may be so. It is in the nature of the mind to imagine goals, to strive towards them, to seek out means and ways, to display vision, energy and courage. These are divine attributes and I do not deny them. But I take my stand where no difference exists, where things are not, nor the minds that create them. There I am at home. Whatever happens, does not affect me -- things act on things, that is all. Free from memory and expectation, I am fresh, innocent and wholehearted.

"The universe is all names and forms, based on qualities and their differences, while I am beyond. The world is there because I am, but I am not the world."

Perhaps it is best read directly from an embodiment of the Supreme, rather than one such as myself who has merely captured glimpses of it. Excerpts from "I Am That" ...The world and the mind are states of being. The supreme is not a state. It pervades, all states, but it is not a state of something else. It is entirely uncaused, independent, complete in itself, beyond time and space, mind and matter. ...It is all a matter of focus. Your mind is focused in the world, mine is focused in reality. It is like the moon in daylight -- when the sun shines, the moon is hardly visible. ...The only way of knowing it is to be it. The mind cannot reach it. To perceive it does not need the senses; to know it, does not need the mind. ...It is not perceivable, because it is what makes perception possible. It is beyond being and not being. It is neither the mirror nor the image in the mirror. ...It leaves no traces. There is nothing to recognise it by. It must be seen directly, by giving up all search for signs and approaches. When all names and forms have been given up, the real is with you. You need not seek it. Plurality and diversity are the play of the mind only. Reality is one. ...The state of craving for anything blocks all deeper experience. Nothing of value can happen to a mind which knows exactly what it wants. For nothing the mind can visualize and want is of much value. ...Want the best. The highest happiness, the greatest freedom. Desirelessness is the highest bliss. ~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

A valid distinction, and yet all perception deludes so long as identification with a perceiver persists. The same applies for the "realizer" striving for some-thing to realize. KENOPANISHAD Reality is known to one who thinks it is unknowable and not known to one who thinks he knows. ----------------- TRIPURA RAHASYA True experience of the Self is the unawareness of even "I am". Can the world persist after such unawareness?

.

SAMARTH RAMDAS The world is as good as unreal to him who is absorbed in the meditation on the name of Rama [God]; and then with the vision of Rama, the whole of the phenomenal world will appear as a dream. To apprehend the Absolute Reality is, no doubt impossible for the speech, the mind and the intellect. But what this really means is that It can be realised without their aid, and that Its bliss can be enjoyed without there being any prior want or desire. If you wish to see God, you must cross the front gate in the form of this phenomenal world. The chief characteristic of a saint is that he is always intent in looking at the vision of God, whatever may be his condition or activity while he is in society. He becomes as fearless as Reality and devoid of blemishes like anger, jealousy, sensuous desires and so on. What is very essential in spiritual life is the combination of the realisation of the Ultimate Reality and the renunciation of all other things. Without any disgust for Godless things, there will only be a verbal knowledge about God, and the growth of God-realisation will be much hampered. And without God-realisation, renunciation will only be a pretence. One must therefore make himself free internally as well as externally. ---------------------------------------------------------- RAMAKRISHNA The mind steeped in affection for woman and wealth is like the green betel-nut. So long as the nut is green, it remains adherent to its shell, but when it dries, shell and nut become separated; and on being shaken, the kernel moves within. So when affection for women and wealth dries up from within, the Soul is perceived as quite different from the body. The knowledge of Oneness makes me see that everything is but a manifestation of God, the Absolute, on the plane of sense. Thus do I realise that all women are so many forms in which the divine Mother appears. Hence I revere all women alike – be it an unchaste woman, or an ideal wife who is an example to others of conjugal love and devotion. Unless one becomes as simple as a child, one cannot reach divine illumination. Give up your vanity about the worldly knowledge you have acquired, and know it to be futile in the realm of higher Truth. Be as simple as a child, and then only you will reach the knowledge of the true. Only two kinds of people can attain to Self-knowledge: those whose minds are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, not overcrowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing. Jnana never comes without the renunciation of lust and possession. With renunciation is destroyed all ignorance. Many things can be burnt by means of a lens held directly in the rays of the sun. But you cannot use it in the shadow of a room. Even so with the mind. You must take it out of the dark cell of this world and expose it to the full blaze of self-effulgent Divinity. Then alone will come true renunciation, and all ignorance will be destroyed.

.

Diversity exists only in the mind, appearances rising up in and upon the Absolute, which knows nothing of labels, aspects, ignorance or death. There are no principles, there is no becoming, no immortality, there are no worlds. Non-existent concepts appearing as waves upon an ocean of awareness, with no One there to be aware. All seers see the same once having plunged deep into the Self; the reality of their individual non-existence. This we can be sure of. All else is speculation fit only for the realm of words and debate.

And what of the rebuke? Is it not also none other than part of that divine romp in full revelry? Can we discover truth apart from our experiences of delusion? I don't see scorn for the manifested feminine here... only discernment. How can such passing beauty compare with the fulfillment found in true bhakti towards the unchanging Real?

Yes, spiritual pride can lead to numberless errors. But what of striving to attain that which we imagine the indescribable to be? Shackled by expectation, the mind writhes in its fostering of "Unsatisfied"...unmet desires mistaken for necessity. We are already that which we seek, indeed. Effort grows up into effortlessness. Illusion persists until, at last, the end of the drama bears witness to its own ruse. Only then is the impermanence of our many pseudo-selves revealed. "Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment." -Dogen

"With one-pointed attention, you must feel and perceive that this universe and your body are simultaneously one with God consciousness. Then the rise of that supreme God consciousness takes place." (Vijñāna Bhairava 36)

1.01. caitanyamātmā Supreme consciousness is the reality of everything. 1.02. jñānaṁ bandhaḥ Knowing differentiatedly is bondage and not knowing undifferentiatedly is bondage. 1.03. yonivargaḥ kalāśarīram Māyīyamala and kārmamala are also bondage. 1.04. jñānādhiṣṭhānam matṛikā The Universal Mother commands this triple knowledge. 1.05. udyamo bhairavaḥ That effort, the flashing forth of active awareness that instantaneously makes universal consciousness shine, is Bhairava. 1.06. śaktiḥcakrasaṁdhāne viśvasaṁhāraḥ By establishing and meditating on the wheel of energies the differentiated universe comes to an end. 1.07. jāgratsvapnasuṣuptabhede turyābhogasaṁbhavaḥ Such a heroic yogi experiences the expansive state of turya in the differentiated states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. 1.08. jñānam jāgrat External organic knowledge constitutes the waking state. 1.09. svapno vikalpāḥ Internal perceptions and thoughts comprise the dreaming state. 1.10. aviveko māyāsauṣuptam Forgetfulness and the negation of awareness is the dreamless state or māyā. 1.11. tritayabhoktā vīreśaḥ The one who enjoys the oneness of the three states, waking, dreaming and deep sleep in turīya becomes the master of all organic energies. 1.12. vismayo yogabhūmikāḥ The predominant sign of such a yogī is joy filled amazement. 1.13. icchā śaktirūmā kumāri His will is the energy of Lord Śiva and it is called umā and kumāri, or for such a yogī his will is one with the energy of Lord Śiva, unobstructable, completely independent, always given to play. 1.14. dṛiśyaṁ śarīram This entire perceived world is his own self, or 
His own body is just like an object to him. 1.15. hṛidaye cittasaṁghaṭṭād dṛiśyasvāpadarśanam When his thoughts are diverted to the center of God consciousness then he feels the existence of God con- sciousness in oneness in the objective world and in the world of negation. 1.16. śuddha-tattva-saṁdhānādvā’paśuśaktiḥ Or by aiming at the pure element of Śiva he possesses Śiva’s unlimited energy. 1.17. vitarka ātmajñānam Any inference of such a yogī is knowledge of his own real self. 1.18. lokānandaḥ samādhisukham The joy of his mystical trance (samādhi) is bliss for the whole universe. 1.19. śaktisandhāne śarīrotpattiḥ By infusing his energy of will the embodiment of that which is willed occurs at once. 1.20. bhūtasaṁdhāna-bhūtapṛithaktva-
viśvasaṁghaṭṭāḥ By the greatness of this achievement of the energy of will the yogī can focus his awareness and heal the sick and suffering, separate elements from his body and be free from the limitations of space and time. 1.21. śuddhavidyodyāccakreśatva-siddhiḥ (When this yogī does not desire limited powers and is eager to attain the knowledge of universal being then) . . . pure knowledge rises and by that knowledge he becomes the master of the universal wheel. 1.22. mahāhṛidānusaṁdhānān mantravīryānubhavaḥ By the attentive continuity of meditation on the great ocean of consciousness the power of supreme I is attained.

Instead of a new topic, this beautiful reading of the text shall be shared here.