The Search for Truth

I always wanted freedom. The path for me was the pursuit of truth. Truth was finding an answer to the existential questions: Why me? Why here? For what? In order to pursue truth without interference I went into business. The simple equation was this: perform a required function and get paid enough to have a stable life providing time for contemplation. I did not want to have my income tied to my questions, or in any way impinge on my freedom of exploration.

For this reason I did not want a job as a priest, or minister, or philosopher. Business I could pursue dispassionately. I did not want to own my own business because I wanted to be free of it. I did not want to be a manager because I did not bring home worries from work.

I spent most of my free time reading and studying whatever interested me in my pursuit of truth. Many people asked me why I read so much. The answer was simple. I couldn't figure this all out on my own. If I was going to find the answer, I needed help. I needed input. I needed the knowledge others had gained.

This pursuit took me through psychology, self help, evolutionary biology, sociology, philosophy, etc. It took time. But I had provided time by being a simple householder. I lived simply beneath my means. I did my job. I did it well. I left it at my desk when I walked out the door

I found in my search mostly what was not the answer. It was a process of "not this, not this," separating the wheat from the chaff. Christian mysticism came close, but it was very individualistic and tied to experience. It was not knowledge that could be easily passed to another. What experience would I have to have to know?

Advaita Vedanta eventually rose to the top. It was knowledge that was supremely thought out, logical, and thorough. When contemplated as edified by a knowledgeable teacher, it makes sense. Vedanta is a science of consciousness. It can only be said to be religious or spiritual, because it answers existential questions. Who am I? What is God. What to I need for happiness?

It was astounding for me to realize that my questions had all been answered thousands of years ago. The knowledge and understanding provided by Vedanta is deeply satisfying. It answers fundamental questions posed in any psychology, philosophy, and religion. It transcends them. Self realization brings peace. The search drops. Freedom is revealed to already be the case. The truth becomes self evident.  

Absolute Dream

When you dream at night you create a whole world full of people, animals and a storyline. You experience it with no knowledge that it is a dream until you wake up. Then you know it was entirely your own creation. One can even say it was entirely unreal, and yet you touched, felt, smelled, and experienced a material world.

How is it then so hard to realize that the waking world is no different? This whole world of name and form is a projection, a dream of the Absolute? Where is the difference? The Jiva dreams. The Absolute dreams. No difference. Not two. Sat, chit, ananda. 

No Separation

If you have two people in a room you can do an interesting experiment. The first person says, "I am here and you are there." "No," says the second person, "I am here and you are there."

Since both persons statements are true, both are here and there. So where is the separation? Here and there are both appearances in awareness. In each case awareness is primary and the position of the bodies makes no difference. Both bodies are experienced in awareness which has no separation.

Existence

Can that which is not an object exist? You, the subject, Awareness, do you not exist? Of course! You, the  knower, unmanifest though you may be, know you exist.

With the projection of Maya every name and form appears. All are objects. They exist. Therefore, existence is primary. Manifest, or unmanifest, you are existence, consciousness, bliss. Wherefore then, can the sting of death be real?

The Bane of Existence

In the pot and the clay example, no matter what shape the clay becomes, it is the shape that determines its usefulness: a platter, a pot, a jar, a cup. Naturally we lock onto the usefulness of the object, not on the fact that it is made of clay. We dismiss the essence and latch onto name and form.

This is what we do with ourselves and others. We take the objective function, name and form, and neglect the underlying reality. Everything is objectified and given a value based on its usefulness. The underlying reality is forgotten and becomes unavailable. Thus the presence of Ishvara, reality, existence, consciousness, bliss, is overlooked. This alienation from the whole becomes the bane of our existence.