Consciousness, Knowledge, Understanding

Consciousness, Knowledge, Understanding

An essay exploring the meaning of the Sanskrit words:
Jnana, Vijnana, Prajnana and Sujnana.



This discussion between Sri Mohan and myself took place
on the Advaitin Yahoo discussion group website in
January 2009. Because it evokes some of the statements that
Nisargadatta made on the subjects of Consciousness, Knowledge
and Understanding it is perhaps of interest to republish it
here. Sri Mohan demonstrates the use of these three important
concepts in a typically contemporary manner which results in
their interchangeability and confusion, whereas Nisargadatta
explains their meaning with clarity and insight.



Sri Mohan wrote...

“The English terms `Awareness', `Consciousness' and
`Understanding' are used interchangeably and to mean the
same concept in Western philosophy.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the meaning in almost identical
terms and basically states that they represent a state of
knowledge which enables one to understand something clearly.

`Awareness' appears to be a state of existence or being.
`Understanding', however, is the end result of acquisition
of knowledge. `Awareness' is a state that is free of any
definitive action or process. It can be described as `endowed'
or `self-existent' rather than `acquired' or `achieved'.

`Understanding', on the other hand, clearly connotes the
acquisition or achievement of some kind of intellectual
clarity, following a process of learning or striving.

This difference can be demonstrated by the idea of `being
aware that one has understood a situation'. `Awareness' and
`Un-awareness' are states of being, while `Understanding'
is an intellectual achievement.“


The response....

Awareness, Consciousness and Understanding are not the
same concept. Awareness does not necessarily have to represent
a state of knowledge. Awareness is beyond being and non-being.
Understanding is perhaps a combination of knowledge and being.
Understanding may well be a result of knowledge acquired in
previous existences, since the organ chitta, the seat of
understanding, accompanies the jiva in transmigratory existence.
Children are born with different degrees of understanding,
different qualities of chitta accompany them.

Memory and understanding are related since understanding
could be said to be the result, in part, of past remembered
knowledge. Chitta includes therefore both memory and
understanding. Knowledge can be forgotten but true
understanding is not lost, since it has passed into the
subtle organ. Understanding is not merely an intellectual
achievement since individual understanding directly and
proportionately varies with the quality of the being of
the individual. Purify your being and you will see and
understand more even with the same knowledge.

The casual use of the words 'awareness', 'consciousness'
and 'understanding' interchangeably, debases language and
ensures no one understands what is being said. It is reasonable
to suspect that such words are being used interchangeably
because it is not known what they indicate or mean. In fact
a study of the English words 'awareness, consciousness, and
understanding' leads to some comprehension of the quite
different levels and natures of Atman, Brahman and Parabrahman.
However, what the corresponding Sanskrit originals of these
words are, remains something of a mystery? The meanings given
by the Oxford English Dictionary can never exceed the level,
mundane and spiritual, of the compiler. Original meanings
found in an etymological dictionary tend to give greater
insight, as if the creators of language were at a finer level
than subsequent generations of users. Language seems to start
at a surprisingly high level and then slowly degenerates with
time? Ancient Panini's and Bhartrhari's comprehension of the
spiritual structure which is the basis of the Sanskrit
language is astonishingly profound and no one since, eastern
or western, appears to have again approached such a level
of understanding.


Sri Mohan wrote...

`Vijnana', `Prajnana' and `Sujnana'. These words describe
a kind of ascending scale of knowledge.

`Vijnana' can be said to be `experience' or `wisdom', which
is knowledge gained from experience. `Prajnana' is a wider
and more profound knowledge of matters beyond the ken of
the mind and intellect. `Sujnana' is pure knowledge of the
Supreme and corresponds to `Consciousness'. The terms
`Pragnana' and `Sujnana' can be said to state the same
concept.


The response....

Looking up these words in the Monier Williams and
Macdonell Sanskrit dictionaries subtle differences are
found.....

'Vi' indicates 'separation', 'apart', 'without', possibly
derived from 'dvi' meaning 'in two parts', 'in different
directions'. 'Vi' as a prefix to nouns indicates 'division',
'distinction'. 'Jnana' simply means 'knowledge'. Vi together
with the root jna means to distinguish, discern, observe,
recognize, know, understand. Therefore vijnana literally
means without knowledge, separation knowledge, or
possibly knowledge in two directions, knowledge of duality?
Monier Williams lists the meanings: 'the act of distinguishing',
'discerning', 'comprehending', 'understanding'.
Macdonell offers the meanings: 'discernment', 'knowledge'.

'Pra' with verbs means 'before', and with nouns means
'great', but with adjectives means 'exceedingly'.
Therefore prajnana literally means great knowledge.
Monier Williams lists the meanings: 'wisdom', 'knowledge'.
Macdonell offers the meanings: 'cognisance', 'knowledge'.
He also equates prajnana with Sarasvati, the shakti of
Brahma.

'Su' has many meanings and indicates 'to move', 'possessing
supremacy', 'extract', 'beget or bring forth', 'good',
'right', 'excellent', 'virtuous'. Simply and literally,
sujnana means good knowledge. Monier Williams lists the
meanings: 'possessing good knowledge', 'easy to be known'.
Macdonell offers the meaning: 'good knowledge'. 'Su' is
indicative of a high ethical quality.

In summary.... Vijnana is knowledge of the principle of
duality, knowledge of the subtle world. Prajnana is great
knowledge which transcends human knowledge, knowledge of the
causal world. Sujnana is knowledge of the highest ethics,
goodness, knowledge of dharma, knowledge of the single
ethical principle that enables creation to manifest, which
is love-existence, existence is possible only if all love all.

The buddhi is capable of looking in two directions,
outward to the material world and inward towards the subtle
world, It reaches to the causal world but it cannot penetrate
into the causal world. Therefore someone who uses
predominantly the buddhi is able to discriminate between the
real and the unreal, but having no direct knowledge of the
cause of anything cannot claim to be a possessor of great
knowledge. Aham is latent in the buddhi and once it comes
into manifestation it could be further stated that no 'I'
can be a great man, no 'I' can know great knowledge. Sujnana
is knowledge at the level of the creator. Since Brahma is
merely a personification of one of the gunas, rajas, such
knowledge, although magnificent, does not transcend
Prakriti, and is located within the Vyavaharika.


Prajnana and Sujnana clearly do not represent the same
concept. Sujnana is not consciousness. Since the Absolute
does not know himself and has no knowledge, neither vijnana,
prajnana, or sujnana. Neither jnana nor any word prefixed
to it, can apply to the Parabrahman.

What has been said in this short essay is simply playing
with the etymology of the words. Whether these were the
true original meanings of the words is very difficult to be
certain. One can only guess. Sri Mohan has eloquently given
some of the current meanings and naturally they predominate
in the contemporary understanding of jnana and its several
derivatives.


Sri Mohan wrote....

It is in this context that an important sloka from the
Aitreya Upanishad is translated thus:
Sarvam Thath Pragnanetram Pragnane Prathistitam
Pragnanetro Lokaha Pragna Prathista Pragnanam Brahma

'All these are guided by consciousness and are supported
by consciousness. The universe has consciousness for its
guide. Consciousness is the basis or stay of all. Verily
consciousness (Prajnanam) is Brahman.'


The response...

Since nowhere, in the Sanskrit dictionaries quoted, is
prajnana translated other than 'knowledge' or related to
knowledge, therefore Prajnana in the Aitreya Upanisad
cannot accurately be translated as consciousness.

I suspect we are not going to get very far merely
consulting dictionaries in distinguishing Awareness,
Consciousness, and Understanding. Also the word Knowledge
could well be added to these three since it is frequently
interchanged with Consciousness by Vedantic authors. It is
necessary to hear what a jnani has to say?....
Nisargadatta uniquely has distinguished these four.

First Nisargadatta distinguishes between Western and
Indian concepts of consciousness-knowledge. His explanation
shines light upon the basic conceptual confusion....

“In the West the name for consciousness is the mind,
in India the name for consciousness is Jnana, knowledge.”

So there is the explanation... the majority of Western
Advaitins and Western philosophers simply do not understand
the concepts present in the Indian mind.

It is acknowledged, as Sri Dennis Waite says, that
Nisargadatta uses the word consciousness differently from
the majority of Vedantins, however it is believed this is
because he has managed to transcend consciousness while
they appear not to have, perhaps mistakingly regarding
consciousness as an absolute?

Nisargadatta uses the word 'chetana' (=cetana) for
consciousness, which Monier Williams lists as 'visible,
conspicuous, distinguished, consciousness, soul, mind'.
and 'caitanya' as 'consciousness, sensation, intelligence',
and the Samkhya usage as 'Universal spirit'. Macdonell
translates cetana, the adjective as 'manifest, distinguished,
sentient, animate, conscious', and the noun as 'perception,
appearance', and with a final long 'A' vowel as
'consciousness, intelligence, mind'. And 'caitanya' similarly
as 'consciousness, mind'.

Occasionally Nisargadatta uses the word 'chitananda' for
consciousness, indicating, I believe, a universal non-dual
level of consciousness that differs from 'cetana' the
consciousness which has a manifold nature and can assume
innumerable forms. Nisargadatta spoke in Marathi and one
can only hope his translator understood the subtleties
of the different words used for consciousness.

Philosophy, both Western and Vedanta, is essentially
words talking about other words, words defining and refining
other words... and one may well ask what is the point of
it all? It could be justified as the mind trying to understand
the mind? If so, that seems to be a useful process in the
quest to transcend our limited nature, which most of us,
if honest, find ultimately unbearable.

What follows is a collection of quotations by Nisargadatta,
scattered throughout the many transcripts of his talks.
Sri Dennis Waite will possibly comment that it is too long....
but only those who want to understand the essential difference
between Awareness, Consciousness, Understanding and
Knowledge will read this far, and certainly any further...
and that is just how it must be. I sincerely believe that
reading just a little of Nisargadatta will enable one never
again to confuse, or interchange, the concepts of
consciousness and awareness. Nisargadatta also reveals
what understanding is and the great usefulness, but
ultimate limitations, of knowledge.

Some Advaitins may suggest that extensive quotations should
not be made on this forum, rather one's own understanding. To
that one counters that this collection is not ordinarily
available, and the clear voice of Brahman seems to be speaking
through illiterate Nisargadatta's mouth, and there is no
desire to alter, enhance, imitate, or précis that. I am simply
amazed by what he says.

------------------------------

Nisargadatta on consciousness....

"Everything takes place in consciousness.

As Absolute, I am timeless, infinite, and I am awareness
without being aware of the awareness. As infinity I express
myself as space, as timelessness I express myself as time.
Unless there is space and duration I cannot be conscious
of myself. When space and time are present there is
consciousness, in consciousness the total manifestation
takes place, and various phenomena come into being.


You are not the consciousness but have to become one
with the consciousness. Consciousness is normally
associated with an individual. But it is not really the
individual that has consciousness, but it is the
consciousness that assumes innumerable forms. Out of the
same consciousness, with the formation of a Krishna body
a Krishna is born; a donkey also is formed accordingly.
Consciousness is the same. There is no end to what this
consciousness can do. This consciousness that one has
is of a manifold nature.....it can adopt any form
it likes..... whereas your true nature is full in itself,
unchanging.

Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness
become the vast world. Look closely and you will see that
all names and forms are but transitory waves on the ocean
of consciousness, that only consciousness can be said to
be, not its transformations.

Consciousness is like light. Just like in a cinema
all is light, so does consciousness become the vast world.
Consciousness does not shine by itself. It shines by a
light beyond it. Having seen the dreamlike quality of
consciousness, look for the light in which it appears,
which gives it being. If you are alert, be aware of yourself,
and you will see light in the deepest recesses of your core.
You are the light.

This consciousness, because of which everything else is,
is itself merely the light of That which is, a reflection
of That which is.

This consciousness is nothing but energy. When the body
essence grows weaker, the consciousness grows weaker,
and ultimately will leave. I am not consciousness, nor its
contents. Whatever you perceive is not you, nor yours.
It is there in the field of consciousness, but you are not
the field and its contents, nor even the knower of the
field. Cease taking yourself to be within the field of
consciousness. Consciousness comes into being and
goes out of being. Sometimes we are conscious and sometimes
not. When we are not conscious, it appears to us as a
darkness or a blank. But a jnani is aware of himself as
neither conscious nor unconscious, but purely aware,
a witness to the three states of mind and their contents.
There is the content of consciousness as well as the
awareness of it.

Consciousness has identified with a form. Later it
understands that it is not that form and goes further.
In a few cases it may reach the space, and very often there
it stops. In a very few cases, it reaches its real source,
beyond all conditioning. Consciousness must seek its
source. Not as an individual, the knowledge “I Am” must
go back to its source.

Whenever a form is infused with life (prana), consciousness
(chetana) appears by reflection of awareness in matter. The
combination of the body and the vital breath generates this
consciousness. You are not the consciousness.

Because of the mistaken identity we think of personalized
consciousness, but actually it is vast and limitless. The
source of consciousness is prior to time and space, prior
to manifestation. Consciousness itself is an impurity,
because it is the result of procreation, and cannot exist
without a body. Consciousness is made of material and is
therefore temporary. People do not really understand that
the body, breath, and consciousness are time-bound.
At the end of the day the consciousness will disappear.

Being in consciousness is time-bound. Consciousness is
a temporary condition which has come upon the total,
timeless, spaceless, changeless state. It is a happening
which has come and which will disappear. Entering the
consciousness drags you down into the suffering.
Consciousness brings you trouble. Understand the nature
of the consciousness and feel you have nothing to do with
it. Consciousness is a guest with you, it was not
originally there and will not be there in the future.
It is temporary. In the temporary knowledge about the
consciousness you want to understand everything in that
consciousness itself. Understand that consciousness
is conditioning. Consciousness is concepts, ideas, hopes,
and all things. Awareness is already beyond consciousness.

Be aware of being conscious and seek the source of
consciousness. That is all. Consciousness comes upon one
by itself, spontaneously, and goes away in the same manner.
Consciousness is a time-bound state. Go back to your state
before this consciousness came upon you. The original
state is before the consciousness came upon you.
That which you do not know, that is the right state.
Everything that comes after this consciousness is attained
is useless. Consciousness is useless.

Consciousness is the product of the five elements and
their interactions. Consciousness is present as long as
the five elements are present. When the great dissolution
of the universe occurs, there is dissolution of the five
elements, and consciousness also finishes. But the knower
of consciousness, the Absolute state, is unaffected.
In that state there is no fear of anything. Even when
there is total destruction, the Absolute is merely
watching, being in a state of witnessing.

What remains when consciousness, or the sense of Being
goes, is the Original, which is unconditioned, without
attributes, and without identity. It is Parabrahman,
the Absolute.

The Guru tells me that this consciousness, which I love
so much, is only an illusion. This consciousness is the
basic cause of all unhappiness. My true state is before
this consciousness arose, and beyond all concepts.
Consciousness cannot be separated from the world and
the universe, it is the same. This is my maya,
it has come out of me, and I know that I am not the
maya. I am the witness of this play.

All consciousness is limited and therefore painful. At
the root of consciousness lies desire, the urge to
experience.

Consciousness cannot stand still. Consciousness is
the same as movement. The movement takes place through
the three gunas which are inherent in this knowledge
“I Am”. All movement takes place through these gunas
and this consciousness keeps on vibrating.

The whole consciousness is already there. No great
man having taken birth has wrought an iota of change
in the consciousness. What is, is. It will never change.
The experience is there and somebody comes later to
experience it. Unknowingly this knowingness has appeared
in you, and you have to go through it, willingly or
unwillingly. No one can change what he has to face as
experience so long as he is identifying with the body
and mind.

Consciousness happens in the universal consciousness
or mind, called the ether of consciousness. All the
objects of consciousness form the universe. Beyond both,
supporting both, is the supreme state, a state of utter
stillness and silence. Whoever goes there, disappears.
It is unreachable by words or mind. It is called God,
or Parabrahman, or Supreme Reality, which are names
given by the mind. It is the nameless, contentless,
effortless and spontaneous state, beyond being and
not being. Just as the universe is the body of the mind,
so consciousness is the body of the supreme.

There is a state beyond consciousness, which is not
unconscious. Some call it super-consciousness, or pure
consciousness, or supreme consciousness. It is awareness
free from the subject-object nexus. Which is first,
consciousness or awareness? Awareness becomes
consciousness when it has an object. The object changes
all the time. In consciousness there is movement;
awareness by itself is motionless and timeless, here and
now. In pure consciousness (ie awareness) nothing ever
happens.

‘I-am-ness’ is consciously receding from the Absolute.
Consciousness is slowly extinguishing itself, knowingly
it is disappearing. But nothing affects you, the Absolute.
You can never isolate yourself from the consciousness
unless consciousness is pleased with you and gets rid
of you. Consciousness opens the gate for you to transcend
consciousness.

Look at consciousness as something that happens to you
and not in you, as something external, alien, superimposed.
Then, suddenly you are free of consciousness, really alone,
with nothing to intrude. And that is your true state.
You cannot step out of consciousness for the very idea
of stepping out is in consciousness. But if you learn
to look at your consciousness as a sort of fever, personal
and private, in which you are enclosed like a chick in its
shell, out of this very attitude will come the crisis
which will break the shell.

All that is to be done, if anything, is to sit and let
consciousness unfold itself, and unfold knowledge about
itself. You must have a thorough knowledge of this
consciousness, and having known everything about the
consciousness you come to the conclusion that
it is all unreal, and then it should drop off.

You know that you are not the consciousness. You witness
your consciousness. Consciousness is the reflection of
the Awareness that is the Absolute.

Nisargadatta on awareness......

Awareness and consciousness are not the same. Awareness
is primordial, it is the original state, beginningless,
endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without
change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against
a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness
without awareness, but there can be awareness without
consciousness, e.g.. as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute,
consciousness is relative to its content since consciousness
is always consciousness of something. Consciousness is
partial and changeful, awareness is total, changeless
calm and silent, and is the common matrix of every
experience. Consciousness comes and goes, awareness shines
immutably.

When the content of consciousness is viewed without likes
and dislikes, the consciousness of it is awareness. But
there is still a difference between awareness as reflected
in consciousness and pure awareness beyond consciousness.
Reflected awareness, the sense: ‘I am aware’ is the witness,
while pure awareness is the essence of reality. Reflection
of the sun in a drop of water is a reflection of the sun,
no doubt, but not the sun itself. Between awareness
reflected in consciousness as the witness, and pure
awareness, there is a gap, which the mind cannot cross.



Nisargadatta on knowledge.....

All knowledge is a form of ignorance. All knowledge is
in memory; it is only recognition, while reality is beyond
the duality of the knower and the known. How is it known
that everyone is completely ignorant? Consider, where did
it all start? It is part of the knowledge “I Am”, and this
knowledge and the particular form, the whole bundle, has
been created out of the 5 elements, and the 5 elements
have no knowledge, so the whole thing is pure ignorance.

All these ideas of yours are binding you. Understand that
there is no knowledge, that it is all ignorance. There is
no knowledge whatsoever. When you understand yourself, both
knowledge and ignorance disappear. You only require
knowledge so long as the ignorance is there.

Can you understand that knowledge itself is ignorance?
If knowledge were real it would have been there eternally
.....it would not have had a beginning and an end.

People consider themselves ignorant and want knowledge.
They come to a jnani and listen and they get knowledge,
and ultimately they give the knowledge up again as being
unnecessary. When you want knowledge you want something
in the manifestation. You are amassing knowledge for an
individual. You are amassing knowledge that is not going
to help you, because it is in a dream.


Can there be true knowledge of things? Relatively.....
yes. Absolutely.....there are no things. To know that
nothing is is true knowledge.

The no-knowingness state is a total, complete, perfect
state. In the knowingness state everything is imperfect
and is never complete. In your nothingness you are perfect,
you are total, and in your knowingness you are imperfect.

Knowledge and ignorance both disappear into vijnana.
Jnana is knowledge, ajnana is ignorance, both disappear
into vijnana.

You can never have knowledge about your Self because
Parabrahman cannot be witnessed. You know what you are
not..... what you are you cannot know. The Ultimate
knowledge does not have any knowledge.

Ultimately one must go beyond knowledge.

When you are convinced you are the Knower of the
consciousness, there is still a mental identification
with the body which makes you feel that something good
is going to happen to you. Now you have a certain amount
of knowledge and it makes you feel very happy. This
knowledge has driven away ignorance. In the washing
away of the ignorance the knowledge will also disappear,
only you remain.


The Absolute does not know Itself.



Nisargadatta on understanding....

Consciousness and whatever appears in consciousness is
nothing but a gigantic fraud. It is a spontaneous
happening, there is no perpetrator of this fraud. There
is nothing that can be done about it, therefore all
that can happen is for the understanding to take place.

All experiences are due to memories and are merely
movements in consciousness and therefore they cannot last.
All experiences will be a means of suffering if one has
not realized what they are. Whatever happens is a mere
movement in that consciousness. Once this is understood,
nothing remains to be done, there is nothing you can or
need to do. What you think you have understood is only a
movement in your consciousness, and you are separate from
that consciousness. As far as the Self is concerned there
is no question of understanding or not understanding.

Understand your own mind and its hold on you will snap.
The mind misunderstands, misunderstanding is its very
nature. Right understanding is the only remedy. By all
means use your mind to know your mind. It is perfectly
legitimate, and also the best preparation for going
beyond the mind.

You can not know perfection, you can know only
imperfection. For knowledge to be, there must be
separation and disharmony. You can know what you are not,
but you can not know your real being. You can only be
what you are. The entire approach is through
understanding, which is the seeing of the false as false.
But to understand, you must observe from outside.

The correct understanding will be when you realize that
whatever you have understood so far, is invalid.
In Jnana-yoga all that is understood is made unreal.
Understanding is a stage. You must go beyond this
understanding stage, to a stage beyond, you must come
to a state of “I have not understood anything”. Come
to the conclusion that the various stages from childhood
up to old age..... whatever you have understood and
got stabilized as your identity.....has proved false.
Similarly, whatever you have tried to understand
during your spiritual search will prove false.
Therefore nothing is to be understood. The ultimate
point of view is that there is nothing to understand,
so when we try to understand, we are only indulging
in acrobatics of the mind. You have not understood
until you have solved the riddle of the one who
thinks he has understood.


Nisargadatta on distinguishing Atman,
Brahman and Parabrahman....

This consciousness which makes perception possible is
the Atman. That which is aware of the consciousness
is the Brahman. The Paramatman is that knowledge that
indwells the body, “I Am”, and that cannot be described.


Brahman means the emanation of the world, simultaneously
confirming that “I Am”. In this Brahman everything is
illusion. The principle that understands, realizes, and
witnesses, is the Parabrahman. Witnessing happens to
the Parabrahman.



The Parabrahman is the highest Self. It is subtler than
space. One who is Parabrahman does not know whether
he is or is not. Non-beingness or beingness have
absolutely no effect on him. That is nirguna. Saguna and
nirguna are one in Parabrahman. There is only the Supreme.
In movement it is saguna. Motionless it is nirguna. But
it is only the mind that moves or does not move. The
real is beyond, you are beyond.

In the Absolute state there is no one to be conscious,
so there is no question of reaching the Absolute state
as long as consciousness is present. The Absolute state
is where knowledge is absorbed in knowledge, and
knowledge is not aware of itself.



How is Brahman to be recognized?.....

When you are absolutely one with Brahman, you do not
use the mind. There is no sound, and you cannot talk.
You keep quiet. To talk you have to use the instrument
of the mind, and so you need to detach a little from
Brahman, then talk can come out.

How is Brahman to be transcended?....

Once stabilized in the Brahman, there is no longer
any use for knowledge of the Brahman, that is, knowledge
of the Self. Therefore I, the Brahman, do nothing, and
need nothing. This is videhisthiti, the body-free state.
There is no high nor low, no real nor unreal, no inside
nor outside, and no dimension of any kind in that state.
You are the Brahman who loses identification with the body,
no longer a human being. You are not ever the Brahman,
but the Parabrahman, the witness of that Brahman.
All this Brahman is illusion, ignorance. Brahman is created
out of your beingness. Your beingness is ignorance only,
from the Absolute standpoint.

With the transcendence of the knowledge “I Am”, the
Absolute prevails. The state is called Parabrahman,
while the knowledge “I Am” is termed Brahman. This knowledge
“I Am” or the beingness is illusion only. Therefore when
Brahman is transcended only the Parabrahman is, in which
there is not even a trace of the knowledge “I Am”.

How is the Parabrahman to be recognized?....

Nobody becomes a Parabrahman, nobody can become a
Parabrahman. It is. Before the knowledge “I Am”
appeared on you, that is Parabrahman. In the Parabrahman
state the quality of knowingness is not present, nor does
the Parabrahman state have any embellishments like the
manifest consciousness. The Parabrahman state does not
know it is, neither does it have this manifestation.
In spite of the dissolution of universes and cosmos
that Absolute is untouched. It exists.

In the Parabrahman there is no awareness of existence,
there is awareness of awareness only. As soon as awareness
of existence comes, there is a duality and manifestation
comes.

Even the dissolution of the manifest universe, the Brahman,
cannot destroy the Self. Prior to, during, and after the
dissolution, I, the Absolute, ever prevail, untouched,
untainted, and unchanged.


----------------------------------


Part of the confusion of the interchangeability of
consciousness and knowledge is because consciousness
and knowledge are located in our structure side by side.
One helps the other. When there is consciousness there
is also simultaneously knowledge. When there is knowledge,
consciousness is enhanced. This may cause some Vedantins
to believe that consciousness and knowledge are one and
the same, but they are quite separate in us and seen
by awareness which is located behind and watching this
pair. Only in Cit or citta, are knowledge and consciousness
united. Citta sees, knows, and understands instantly

Nisargadatta's language is astonishing and provocative.
How can Nisargadatta's words be known to be true or
false? There is a simple test, which can be done each and
every day of one's life. Observe at the moment of awaking
in bed each morning. You will awake as simple awareness.
In that first brief instant you are pure awareness. It is
realized that you have not been asleep. Someone may have
been asleep, asleep throughout the whole of the night, but
you have never slept. You have remained throughout, day
or night, in your natural state.... pure simple awareness.
All this is in one instant moment. The next moment
something occurs, there is a thought that you do not know
who you are. You identify with the suggested thought... you
ask the question: Who am I? It is a fatal question. The next
instant something comes in from the left hand side, and
covers you, completely obliterates you, like a cloak
covering its wearer. Consciousness appears and you remember
you are your familiar self living in such and such a house,
with all the people in your life, and all your work to do.
And you realize it is all pseudo. Of course you get up and
go about your activities being the person you are in ordinary
life.... but if you are quick, very very quick, you realize
that you have been completely covered over by consciousness.
You have disappeared.

Consciousness, the vyavaharika, has been superimposed
upon awareness, the paramarthika.

It is completely unnecessary to know who I am. The self
is awareness that does not know who it is. Having made a
serious mistake, having been deceived by suggestion, I wonder
who or what is the source of the suggestion? I also wonder
how I am going to be able to resist the suggestion tomorrow?

I spend the rest of the day, and the next day, and every day,
saying: neti, neti... I am not this person who I believe
I am. This person loves himself....neti, neti. This
consciousness does not want to disappear.... neti, neti.
I want to be my true self.... neti, neti.

John Ward..... neti, neti.