Dear Rupert,
Can we remain 24 hours as consciousness directly? Or is it necessary for the mind to perform some spiritual devotion so that it is not lost in objects, and then come to consciousness, then devotion, until we are established in consciousness naturally?
Devotion to a particular guru or symbols, or even to an idol of forms (Rama, Krishna, Kali) can serve as a medium to reach consciousness; as the Gita says, Karma yogam is a medium to purify our mind. Bhakthi yogam is to get a whole focus so that not the least trace of thoughts will remain to get us out of the truth. Our mind naturally goes out, our senses go out, so the body follows. If this is so, bringing our self back needs tremendous devotion, and grace is necessary. So I bow down to all who are established in this truth and are continuously helping us.
In love and devotion,
Kalapatpu
Dear Kalapatpu,
Kalapatpu:Can we remain 24 hours as consciousness directly?
Rupert:Consciousness is what we are whether it is recognised or not. There is no separate entity who either remains or does not remain ‘as consciousness’. Likewise, there is nothing other than consciousness which we, as consciousness, could ever be or become.
Nothing the mind does or does not do can or will ever change that fact. Thus, no purification of the mind is necessary. In fact, purification of the mind is a natural, effortless and spontaneous outcome of recognising that what we are is impersonal and unlocated consciousness. In other words, purification of the mind is a natural side-effect of, and not a prerequisite for, this realisation.
Or is it necessary for the mind to perform some spiritual devotion so that it is not lost in objects, and then come to consciousness, then devotion, until we are established in consciousness naturally?
The mind is not lostinobjects. The mind isan object. One object can never appear in another object. All objects, gross or subtle, appear in consciousness.
Take your night dream: the mind creates a scenario in which a person is lost in the world and spends many years on a great adventure. When we wake, we find that the belief that the person in the dream was lost in the objects of the world was simply a belief of that imagined person. At any particular moment, the mind in the dream was just one single thought or image appearing in consciousness.
What does such a mind need to do in order to remain as consciousness? Nothing! It is already floating in and made out of consciousness. What does the river have to do to abide as water? What could a river do to be anything other than water?
To be established naturally, all that is required is to understand that there is no entity that is ever established or not established in consciousness. See clearly that you are consciousness. You have never been or could never be anything else.
Having seen that, live from that point of view instead of the imaginary point of view of ‘a person in a world’, and the activities of the mind and the body will gradually realign themselves with this understanding.
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Devotion to a particular guru or symbols, or even to an idol of forms (Rama, Krishna, Kali) can serve as a medium to reach consciousness; as the Gita says, Karma yogam is a medium to purify our mind. Bhakthi yogam is to get a whole focus so that not the least trace of thoughts will remain to get us out of the truth.
Guru, Rama, Krishna, Kali, and so on, are all only truth or reality. They are names and forms to aid those who are not able to go directly to the truth so that in time they may be softened up, so to speak, and ‘approach’ the truth directly. In your case, you are already softened up, so be devoted to truth alone, not to any object.
No medium is needed to reach consciousness. Consciousness is already the medium throughwhich or, more accurately (but of course, not completely accurately), inwhich, and ultimately aswhich, all appearances take place.
Our mind naturally goes out, our senses go out, so the body follows. If this is so, bringing our self back needs tremendous devotion, and grace is necessary. So I bow down to all who are established in this truth and are continuously helping us.
No thought ever truly takes us away from reality, just as no adventure of a character in a film ever takes him away from the screen, however far he may seem to go. This understanding will slowly bring the mind’s adventures to an end. In time, the body and its activities will follow.
I share your devotion to truth.
With love,
Rupert
