What is the self ? What is consciousness? What is reality ? According to Advaita

[Breakingthewall]

Consciousness arises as a disturbance in the Absolute, and in consciousness the world arises. When you realize that you are not the person, but the pure observer, you take a step back. But the observer remains in consciousness. You must go even further, to the Absolute, where there is no consciousness of 'I am,' where you are the Pure Being prior to all being or non-being. The Absolute is your true state, unchanging and imperishable, unaware that it is.

— Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That"

[Someone here]

@Breakingthewall thank you for your participation in this thread.

[James123]

1 minute ago, Someone here said:

@Breakingthewall thank you for your participation in this thread.

Amazing. 

Please do not understand as I am preaching.

But, only key is opens the door is accepting everything and anything, which brings love inevitably. 

This is the key that opens the door.

Not being witness of thoughts, but accepting either good or bad thoughts. 

Not being enlightened, but accepting the enlightened and ignorant.

Accepting the questioner mind or empty mind. 

Accepting the ego and Allah. 

[Hojo]

2 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

Consciousness arises as a disturbance in the Absolute, and in consciousness the world arises. When you realize that you are not the person, but the pure observer, you take a step back. But the observer remains in consciousness. You must go even further, to the Absolute, where there is no consciousness of 'I am,' where you are the Pure Being prior to all being or non-being. The Absolute is your true state, unchanging and imperishable, unaware that it is.

— Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That"

So this state of looking at nothing got scared and that spun your entire life?

Edited 13 hours ago by Hojo

[Breakingthewall]

5 hours ago, Hojo said:

So this state of looking at nothing got scared and that spun your entire life?

The absolute is not nothing, it's the absolute 

[Breakingthewall]

7 hours ago, Someone here said:

@Breakingthewall thank you for your participation in this thread.

What means that ? 

[Joseph Maynor]

The problem is IMO, Advaita Vedanta on its own doesn't give a complete and satisfying answer.

[Someone here]

3 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

The problem is IMO, Advaita Vedanta on its own doesn't give a complete and satisfying answer.

If you have a question ask away and we’ll see if advaita has an answer.

stop tiptoeing around.

[Mellowmarsh]

35 minutes ago, Someone here said:

If you have a question ask away and we’ll see if advaita has an answer.

stop tiptoeing around.

“Non-duality (Advaita Vedanta): The idea that the individual self (Atman) and the universal consciousness (Brahman) are identical. The illusion of separation makes us feel like we are searching for answers outside of ourselves, but the ultimate reality is that the questioner and the answer are both the same infinite consciousness. 

Self-Inquiry: Practiced heavily in schools of thought like Zen or by sages like Ramana Maharshi, this involves asking "Who am I?". The purpose is not to find a conceptual answer, but to realize that the "I" doing the asking is the exact same "I" that forms the answer, leading directly to direct spiritual realization.

The Socratic Method: In philosophy, this is the idea that the teacher doesn't give answers, but asks questions to help the student draw the truth out of their own soul. It operates on the premise that the knowledge was already within the questioner's mind all along.”

[Someone here]

12 minutes ago, Mellowmarsh said:

Non-duality (Advaita Vedanta): The idea that the individual self (Atman) and the universal consciousness (Brahman) are identical. The illusion of separation makes us feel like we are searching for answers outside of ourselves, but the ultimate reality is that the questioner and the answer are both the same infinite consciousness. 

Self-Inquiry: Practiced heavily in schools of thought like Zen or by sages like Ramana Maharshi, this involves asking "Who am I?". The purpose is not to find a conceptual answer, but to realize that the "I" doing the asking is the exact same "I" that forms the answer, leading directly to direct spiritual realization.

Correct .

[Someone here]

14 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

Consciousness arises as a disturbance in the Absolute, and in consciousness the world arises. When you realize that you are not the person, but the pure observer, you take a step back. But the observer remains in consciousness. You must go even further, to the Absolute, where there is no consciousness of 'I am,' where you are the Pure Being prior to all being or non-being. The Absolute is your true state, unchanging and imperishable, unaware that it is.

— Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That"

thank you for sharing this . It was a mistake on my part to lump Nisargadatta Maharaj together with Ramana Maharshi and Robert Adams.there is a fundamental philosophical difference between them regarding the nature of consciousness and the Absolute.   Nisargadatta repeatedly emphasizes that the Absolute (Parabrahman) is beyond consciousness. For him consciousness itself and the sense of “I am” and the entire field of experience is NOT  the final reality but a temporary manifestation that appears and disappears. 

 He seems to equate the Absolute with a state of complete absence..not consciousness..not experience not being in any ordinary sense. He often uses deep sleep as an analogy ..not because deep sleep itself is the Absolute but because it points to the absence of conscious experience.  Nisargadatta says The Absolute is beyond both consciousness and unconsciousness and beyond being and non being and  beyond all categories the mind can conceive. We can discuss that and find out whether it’s true but again through direct observation not only through thinking rationally because rationality isn’t fundamental.

Edited 57 minutes ago by Someone here

[Breakingthewall]

31 minutes ago, Someone here said:

He seems to equate the Absolute with a state of complete absence..not consciousness..not experience not being in any ordinary sense. He often uses deep sleep as an analogy ..not because deep sleep itself is the Absolute but because it points to the absence of conscious experience.  Nisargadatta says The Absolute is beyond both consciousness and unconsciousness and beyond being and non being and  beyond all categories the mind can conceive. We can discuss that and find out whether it’s true but again through direct observation not only through thinking rationally because rationality isn’t fundamental.

It's much simpler. The absolute is the unlimited being. Unlimited implies being, being implies everything. When you are open to it it's absolutely obvious.

If all the barriers of your mind fall away, what remains is the absolute being. The fact that the absolute being is known within you is because you are a knowing structure, that is, consciousness. But consciousness is a specific structure that occurs, not the absolute itself. Consciousness is the absolute in the form of knowing that is. The absolute happens without intention, a creator isn't needed, it's just inevitable.

For consciousness to exist, there must be a record of change and subject-object duality. That is, a self-preserving organism that exchanges information with the outside world. There's no need to invent another magical reality; this one is already magical enough .

Opening yourself completely to the absolute isn't so difficult; the problem is that all spirituality is formulated in a confusing way. The absolute is you, not another. You are the absolute manifested in a form , it's just under surface. If you open yourself to your true nature there are no doubt, but this doesn't implies permanence, the form will disappear, what is will always being.

Edited 32 minutes ago by Breakingthewall

[James123]

40 minutes ago, Someone here said:

He seems to equate the Absolute with a state of complete absence

Absolutely, no sense of self, I, consciousness. 

He usually says that I am that, or witness dissolves. I am dies. 

What a pure beauty.

[James123]

42 minutes ago, Someone here said:

He seems to equate the Absolute with a state of complete absence..not consciousness..not experience not being in any ordinary sense. He often uses deep sleep as an analogy ..not because deep sleep itself is the Absolute but because it points to the absence of conscious experience.  Nisargadatta says The Absolute is beyond both consciousness and unconsciousness and beyond being and non being and  beyond all categories the mind can conceive. We can discuss that and find out whether it’s true but again through direct observation not only through thinking rationally because rationality isn’t fundamental.

You can't find more Truth than this in entire books in existence.

[Breakingthewall]

54 minutes ago, Someone here said:

He seems to equate the Absolute with a state of complete absence..

No, look:

"The person merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness into pure being, yet identity is not lost, only its limitations are lost. It is transfigured and becomes the real Self, the sadguru, the eternal friend and guide

Nisgardatta 

 

[Breakingthewall]

Reading nisgardatta, seems that he's a mystic that is not in a mistake. Another is Ramakrishna, and another al hallaj 

But seems that nisgardatta was in a mistake at the beginning, but after he realizes it

Edited 7 minutes ago by Breakingthewall