home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!network.ucsd.edu!news!nosc!crash!classics
- From: classics@crash.cts.com (Baruch Schwartz)
- Subject: The mind and the ego
- Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
- Date: 15 Nov 92 21:09:48 PST
- Message-ID: <1992Nov15.210948.4277@crash>
- Lines: 75
-
- The following excerpt is from Babaji-The Divine Himalayan Yogi.
-
- THE WORLD AND THE MIND
-
-
- B: What is this world?
- MB: This world is nothing but Sound (inner Sound: OM, Aum, Amen, Amin) and its
- permutations. The world consists of the objects of the five sense organs. When
- your mind is aware of these five sensations through the five senses, then you
- see this world. When this is the case, how can the world consist of other than
- the mind? This world is relative. It is relative to the knowing mind. When you
- see this world, you behave and try to prove it to be real. But every time you
- seek to prove its reality, it is mocking at you, if you first do not know
- yourself. How can the knowledge of an object arising in relative existence to
- the seeker who does not know the Truth about himself or herself (the Knower) be
- real knowledge? When you know perfectly the Truth behind yourself (the Subject),
- ignorance, relative knowledge and knowledge itself (these three states which are
- immersed in illusion) will cease automatically. Only then will you be perfectly
- established in absolute Knowledge or Truth.
-
- B: When does this world show first appear before us?
- MB: When you wake up from sleep, a light appears which is the Light of the Self,
- and passes through cosmic Consciousness.
- "I am the light of the world [i.e., of the cosmos."] John 9:5
- The Light falls on the ego and is reflected from there. Due to the reflected
- light, the body and the world appear, and are perceived by an act of the mind.
- When your mind is illumined with this Light, the mind is aware of this world,
- and, as a result, you see this world. When your mind is not illumined, it is not
- aware of the world. In fact, you see the objects of the world by forgetting your
- own Self. If you hold onto the Self, you will not be able to see the objective
- world. This is certain.
-
- B: Is this world real?
- MB: If you make an honest inquiry about whether the mind exists, you will find
- that the mind does not exist. It is merely a myth. If you seek to know what this
- mind is, you will find that mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts, and
- thoughts cannot exist except for the ego, who is the very dear friend of almost
- everyone. But if you seek to know wherefrom Mr. Ego arises, then the other
- thoughts simply will disappear, as they are unreal. So you see, the mind,
- thoughts and ego all are myth, and, therefore, non-existent. Because you have
- taken them to be true and existent, you are troubling yourself. When the world
- is the reflection of the mind and the mind is non-existent, how can the world be
- real?
-
- B: Can you explain with an example?
- MB: Suppose a figure appears who watches the actions of the whole world on a
- movie screen. Can you discern the reality behind the subject and object in that
- show? You know very well an illusory man watches an illusory world. You and this
- world are as real as the movie figures.
-
- B: You said the world and the mind are relative; you also said that the world is
- the reflection of the mind, and that the world and the mind are synonymous. Will
- you please comment on this?
-
- MB: It is useless to talk about this world, saying that it is illusory, that it
- is an appearance, or manifold. The world and the mind rise and set together as
- one. But of these two, the objective world owes its appearance to the mind
- alone. These two are inseparable, rising and setting in one infinite, pure
- Consciousness which never moves (rising or setting). This Consciousness is the
- Self.
-
- B: How does one realize the Self?
- MB: If you make an honest inquiry regarding the mind, then automatically you
- will turn away from this world or the mind, and during that inquiry, you will
- find that thoughts are disappearing. You will end in the discovery of something
- within you which is behind your own mind. It is the pure Consciousness of the
- Self.
-
- B: What is the relationship between the mind and the Self?
- MB: You will realize in the inquiry that the mind has no independent existence.
- The Self exists without the mind, never the mind without the Self. As is your
- mind, so is the world for you.
-
- Copyright 1992 The Sanskrit Classics
-
-