The greatest mystery.
Before there is anything, I needs to be. I do not think, and therefore I am – I can think because I am.
I think. I feel. I look. I see. I perceive. I is not thought. I is not felt. I is not seen. I is not perceived. I is.
Everything that is thought, seen, felt, or observed, liked or disliked, approved or disapproved, is not I. All of that comes into existence due to the existence of I – for without I, who witnesses the world of names and forms, to whom could names and forms exist? Who would be aware of their existence? Who could confirm that they are?
Only pure Awareness – I, the Self, the Atman – is. Everything else comes into existence, lasts for some time, and disappears like a dream. The Self neither appears nor disappears, neither comes nor goes – it always is. The greatest mystery.
Before the world was, there was the Self; there was I. When the world dissolves, I will remain. The world originates in I and returns to I, without I ever being affected or touched by it. The greatest mystery.
Much could be said, yet the Self could never be named or pointed to. Much could be written, yet the Self could never be put into words. I gives life and meaning to words; I makes the pen move. And yet I is beyond meaning and movement. The greatest mystery.
Hopefully, you understand that when I say I, or Self, I do not mean the small, personal “i” – the human personality. I do not speak about the human psychological profile. I do not speak about aspects of the mind or its perceptive and cognitive faculties. No, no. There is something subtler behind the mind. There is a Witness behind even the witnessing part of the mind – a silent presence, never touched by any change or movement, never changed or moved. There is Awareness. It cannot be heard, seen, or touched. It simply is. The greatest mystery.
The only way is to disappear into it. Like a doll made of salt thrown into the ocean, one must melt into it. It is mercy – earned through spiritual practice and through giving up the lower in the name of the higher, giving up what is merely human in order to become truly and fully spiritual. Where “i” stops, “I” begins – although I has neither beginning nor end.
Contemplate this and illuminate your mind. Give up attachment to sensual and sensory experience, and experience Yourself beyond the senses. The ocean of peace, bliss, and happiness – unconditional. The only thing between you and You is your ignorance.
Awake.
