Tripur Rahasya

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TR-18

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18. On Consciousness, Control of Mind and Sleep

Dattaatreya Jee further said - "O Bhaargav, Thus the pure intelligence, which is free from objective knowledge, has been proved to exist. One can feel it at many occasions in his lfe, but since they are indulged in Maayaa it goes unnoticed. Only alertness can show it. Why do we stress on this? Because objective knowledge is obtained by the mind and the mind cannot be objectified. But even in the absence of objects, mind is there. Such pure mind, if diverted from all objective knowledge, it realizes the pure intelligence. Because awareness is its nature, that is why it is always realized without the presence of any other knower.

O Bhaargav, Do you think that the Self is not aware when objects are seen? If the Self is not aware then Self is not the Self. And if Self is not there, then can you raise a question? How can I establish Self for you, consider and tell me. Or do you wish to say that people are aware of the Self, but they cannot recognize it. If it is so, then know that this awareness is unending and has always been existing and that is your self. The Self is beyond particulars (attributes). How strange it is that although you know it, still you are ignorant about it.

When you see an object, your pure intellect takes its shape and manifests as such, although it itself is pure and has no form. Objective Knowledge is thus a particular section of pure intelligence. If you say that this body is usually appears as the Self, it is only the play of thoughts and nothing more. To examine this, think that when you see a pot, do you think that it is your Self like the body? (In fact your body is also a thought like a pot) Then why should the body alone be confused with the Self?

If you ask what is the harm in it, identifying the body with the Self, because it is no worse that glorifying a part instead of the whole, I should tell you, do not glorify only on part excluding all others. Glorify the whole universe as the Self. In that case there will be no confusion of the object with the subject and you will always remain as the subject. Rule out that the Creation as a mere thought, or series of thoughts and realize the pure intelligence as the Self. If the body and the Creation are transcended and the Self Realized even once, it brings the wisdom and will override the cycle of births and deaths.

Moksh
Moksh is not sought in Heaven, or on Earth or anywhere else, it is synonymous with Self realization. It is not even god, it can be attained by eliminating ignorance and absolutely nothing more is required to achieve the aim of life. Moksh is not different from Self, because if it is a thing to be acquired, it is implied that it might be absent also, and if its absence can occur even once, its absence can reoccur also and thus it becomes impermanent and such things are not to be worthwhile to desire for.
[Raman Maharshi says that Moksh is the other name of "I" or "self"]

The popular idea of Moksh is that "It is the release from the bondage", means destruction of ignorance. Ignorance itself is a thought, and its destruction is its absence - and to bring about its absence id only another form of thought. Thus the whole process becomes meaningless, because a thought cannot be destroyed and it will still remain a thought.

Dream is said to be real, as well as unreal (in experience and substance respectively). As a matter of fact even dream is also real. How? Let us define reality. What is unreality? Unreality is impermanency, or non-continuity. Is dream really non-continual? Till intellect is continuous, which it is, there cannot be any moment of the non-existence of anything. That is why even if the thing is absent, its thought still remains in the mind and so it is real. When not thought about the objects, all objects are absent, but their thoughts are present in the mind, so it is absurd to deny their existence - the thing is there. That is why Moksh cannot be exterior to the Self, to be acquired or gathered.

Being within, the Universe cannot be different from consciousness, because you know that two things cannot co-exist within the same limits - if they do, they will mix up. However the Universe maintains its distinctness because it is like a reflection in a mirror of consciousness."

When Dattaatreya Jee had finished, Parashuraam Jee asked further - "O Lord, It is difficult for me to follow your reasoning, when you say that Abstract Intelligence, although being one, manifests as the diverse objects of Creation. These two, the cognizer and the cognizant, are quite different from each other. Between these two, the cognizer (the Consciousness) may be self-luminous, illumining other things. Just as an object stands apart from the light, so the universe also seems apart from the Intelligent Principle. Besides you seem to be conforming the statement of the King Janak regarding Samaadhi - "Mind without thoughts becomes pure and identical with the Self, and That (Self) alone destroys ignorance."

How can that be the Self? Because the mind is always a means by which the Self functions in the supra-material planes. Further scriptures also say that liberation (unmodified mind) and bondage (modified mind) are only the attitudes of mind.
There are hallucinations are also known, such as rope understood as snake. Hallucination is not a correct knowledge, but it does  not end the duality. Besides unreal images do not serve any purpose, while the universe is full of purpose. So please tell me how you decide that it is unreal and thus establish the non-duality of the Supreme - and if the world itself is unreal, then how does the unreality distinguishes between the fact and the hallucination in life? More so, how does then everybody happen to have the same hallucination that he takes that unreal phenomenon as reality? All these doubts are troubling me, so please clear them."

Dattaatreya Jee got very happy to hear this and he spoke - "O Raam, Your questions are good and they must be solved before one is convinced. Because one cannot obtain clear knowledge if he has doubts in his mind. His doubts shows his depth of knowledge. The earnest student is recognized by his questions.

Listen. Consciousness is one and non-dual, but it shines as variegated colors shine in a mirror clearly. See how the mind in sleep, when it is unmodified, remains single and blank. When the dream comes, it is modified and manifests as the dream world. In the same way, that One Consciousness, the Tripur, flashes forth various phenomenon of the universe. Thus Cognizer and the Cognized objects are seen in dream also. Even a blind man perceives objects also. How does he do unless he has mental perception? Can anyone see anything, at anytime, at any place without the light of the mind? There can be no images without the mirror, why? because the images are not separated from the mirror. In the same way one cannot cognize anything which is beyond the cognizing principle. That is why I say that the mind cannot be apart from the intelligence in the abstract. Just as the cognizer, cognition and the cognized object are identified in a dream with the mind, in the same way the seer, the sight and the phenomena are identified in the mind in the wakeful state. As an axe was creating to fell the tree in dream, so is the mind to be the faculty for giving perception.

But Raam, the faculty can be of the same degree of reality as the action itself. The action and the instrument must be of the same degree of the truth. If the action is unreal, the mind, the faculty can also be not real. That is why O Raam, there is no faculty known as the mind. Mind is only guessed for the location of the dream subject, dream vision and the dream objects. Its reality is of the same order as that of a dream.

I explain you further - Absolute Consciousness and space resemble each other in being perfect, infinite, subtle, pure, unbounded, formless, inherent in all, yet spotless within and without, but space differs from the other in being inanimate. In fact the conscious Self is the space, that is why they are not different from one another. He is ignorant who sees the Self as space alone - it is his delusion. A wise one finds the Self, the Abstract Intelligence, in space.

Her Majesty, the Absolute, although immutable, appears to be mutable to Her own creatures, as a magician bewiders his audience with his tricks but remains unaffected by them. She is light, one without a second, still She seems to be divided to Her own creatures, because of the illusion only. As only the audience is affected by the illusion of the magician, not the magician himself; in the same way this Maayaa (illusion) affects only the creatures not She.

This Maayaa is the dynamic aspect of the self-sufficiency of the Supreme and is unfailing. You must have seen how the Yogee, charmers and magicians play their games on others minds, and they themselves remain untouched with it. That is why the identification of space with the Self is not seen even by learned, because they are incapable of investigating the Self with a steady mind, because its tendency is to go to outward. Second hand knowledge from the books or Guru can never free man until its truth is rightly investigated. and applied to himself. Only direct realization can do that. Therefore, realize yourself turning your mind inward.

Because the aggregate of all phenomena is Pure Intelligence (the Supreme), and there is nothing beyond Her orbit, there cannot be anything which could divide Her into sectors and thus She is unbroken. How are Divisor and division are possible for an Absolute? And this unbrokenness is called Perfection. Such is the power of Maayaa that it is capable of accomplishing impossible tasks and still remained unbroken. She is eternal, unbroken, single.

Diversity is visible only in space, and this space is in the Self. So O Raam, look within. What you see as space within, is the expanse where all creatures exist, and it forms their Self. What they look upon as space is your Self. Thus the Self in one is space in another and vice versa. That is why there is no difference between Self and space. However space implies sections and each section of intelligence is called mind. Thus the mind is not different from Self. Thus in the transition from the Absolute to the individual, space is the first veil remove. The Self becomes pure space, in which hard dense crowded or scattered things are conceived and they manifest as the five elements of which the body is composed. The individual then encases himself as the silkworm encases itself in a cocoon. Thus the Absolute shines as Awareness in the body - I am the body. It shines through the senses of the body.

That is why mind is no different from Consciousness, the difference between them is only this that mind is restless, and the Self is always peaceful. When a person has realized Self, that realization subdues the restlessness mind a peaceful bliss shines. As one is not aware of the truth unless the dream is broken, in the same way unless the veil is removed Self is not seen."

There is no Bondage
Dattaatreya Jee said - "O Raam, There has been no bondage to the world even from the beginning, just do not be deluded by attaching yourself with the matter, rather ask "What is this bondage?" Even the best of men is not freed by any amount of efforts unless his sense of bondage is destroyed. And what is this bondage? How can the pure Absolute Self be shackled by what look like images in the mirror of the Self. It is absolute foolishness to imagine that you are bound and the difference of the entity created by mind. Until these two blemishes are cleaned, neither I, nor Brahmaa, nor Vishnu, nor Shiv, not even Shree Tripuraa (the Goddess of Wisdom) can help that man to be freed. So Hey Raam, cross these two hurdles and be always happy. Mind is nothing but the sectional knowledge of Self. Eliminate such notion and then pure knowledge will remain.

If somebody thinks that whether there is a rope or a snake? And even after the delusion is removed (that it was a snake), the danger will still be there until the rope is recognized to be of and in the Self.

The difference between the dream and wakefulness is that in the wakefulness the dream seems false, while in dream state, waking state cannot be determined, that is why people take waking state to be real. But this is wrong as in both states the permanency and purposefulness are the same. Although both do  not interfere in each other, still the enduring nature and purposeful nature are the same in both. Reality must endure for ever and ever, consciousness either is or not. In the former case it is obvious and in the latter case it is implied.

I tell you the difference between reality and unreality - Reality is that whose existence is self-evident and does not require any other aid to reveal it. Unreality is its just opposite. The appearance of a thing and its utility do not determine the reality of a thing or otherwise. "All knowledge is secondary and unreliable. The greatest of all delusions is the conviction that knowledge is not a delusion.

I have now answered your questions. Do not waver but make up your mind at once. I shall enlighten you further on the point you raised with regard to the activities of Gyaanee (sages). Gyaanee may be classified as (1) the best, (2) the middle class and (3) the lowest.

Of these, the last know the Self and yet are influenced by the pleasures and pains accruing to them according to their Praarabdh (past Karm). Gyaanee of the higher order even while reaping the fruits of their past Karm are however firmer in their internal happiness like men inebriated with drink. Gyaan of the highest order are never detached from the enjoyment of their bliss even if confronted with a million times more Praarabdh; they are not surprised at the most unnatural and miraculous happenings; they are not elated by the greatest pleasures, nor depressed by the worst miseries. They are always peaceful and calm within, although they appear to act like common folk. These differences are due to the differences in their intellects and to the degrees of development of Gyaan (wisdom). Their activities depend on their predispositions as determined by their past Karm. But all their actions are like those of a drunken man."

End of the Chapter 18