the_aphid
21st July 2009, 01:40 PM
A string of words manifested in my mind today while I was at work:
The seed of sentience sprouts into the light of day before it begins to secure itself by the clinging of its roots.
I was unsure whether or not this was something that I had heard or read somewhere before, or if it was something unique, likely initiated by the conversations over in the Buddhism forum, so I entered the entire line into google, and this is what was yielded (http://www.google.ca/search?q=the+seed+of+sentience+sprouts+into+the+li ght+of+day+before+it+begins+to+secure+itself+by+th e+clinging+of+its+roots&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a).
Within the second result, The Non-Dualistic Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta (http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:FQ5i6KiISMIJ:www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/H%2520-%2520World%2520Religions%2520and%2520Poetry/World%2520Religions/From%2520the%2520Indian%2520Tradition/Teachers%2520from%2520the%2520Indian%2520Tradition/Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj/Teachings%2520by%2520Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj/Teachings%2520by%2520Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj.pdf+ the+seed+of+sentience+sprouts+into+the+light+of+da y+before+it+begins+to+secure+itself+by+the+clingin g+of+its+roots&hl=en&gl=ca), I found this paragraph:Understand that the consciousness has arisen spontaneously in you, the Absolute. Once you are conscious of yourself you know you exist and you love this beingness; you do not want this beingness to depart from you, and it is this that makes you strive all day until sleep overcomes you, in order to keep the beingness satisfied. Then the guru tells you the true state of affairs, that this consciousness which you love so much is only an illusion. It is the basic cause of all unhappiness and your true state is before this consciousness arose. Understand this thoroughly, intuitively, beyond all words and concepts, but also know that if this understanding is just something happening in the intellect it will be of no use to you, because it will be at the level of phenomenal consciousness... concepts... and that consciousness is nothing but illusion. Whatever you know is imperfect, fraudulent. Go where you do not know. Recede into the source, into no form, no beingness; there you are perfect. Whatever you witness will not remain with you; it is imperfect. The one who recognizes the imperfect as imperfect is perfect; that one is complete in himself.
Have firm faith in the words of the guru. Nothing, nobody existed prior to you. When your beingness appeared then everything appeared. Understand that first moment when you understood that you are, the point at which everything arose. The source and the end are the same point. In the spiritual hierarchy going from the grossest to the subtlest, you are the subtlest. The very base is you, full and complete, without need for knowledge of who you are. Suddenly the space-like, all-pervading 'I amness' appears. Spontaneously, uncalled for, the beingness has come and is being witnessed by you, the Absolute. Later, this space-like 'I amness' disappears and the beingness goes back into oblivion. You remain in the eternal state, your true unchanging state. Prior to your beingness, nothing was... but you, the Absolute. After the beingness comes, still all there is is you, the Absolute. Without the beingness you, the Absolute, don't know you are. You are without any stigma, not covered by anything. You are the Paramatman, the core Self, the highest Self, the Absolute, subtler than space, beyond consciousness, beyond the 'I amness'.
In meditation, let your beingness merge in your Self, the non-dual state. Remain still. Do not struggle to come out of the mud of your concepts, you will only go deeper. Simply abide in the stillness. The Self has no occasion to say it exists; it is in eternity. When there is no body-mind there can be no practice; only the stillness of the Self remains.
I had no knowledge of this guru, Nisargdatta Maharaj (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj#Quotes_of_Nisargdatta_Maharaj ), until today. It is interesting how sometimes you can tumble and roll into insight. :)
The seed of sentience sprouts into the light of day before it begins to secure itself by the clinging of its roots.
I was unsure whether or not this was something that I had heard or read somewhere before, or if it was something unique, likely initiated by the conversations over in the Buddhism forum, so I entered the entire line into google, and this is what was yielded (http://www.google.ca/search?q=the+seed+of+sentience+sprouts+into+the+li ght+of+day+before+it+begins+to+secure+itself+by+th e+clinging+of+its+roots&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a).
Within the second result, The Non-Dualistic Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta (http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:FQ5i6KiISMIJ:www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/H%2520-%2520World%2520Religions%2520and%2520Poetry/World%2520Religions/From%2520the%2520Indian%2520Tradition/Teachers%2520from%2520the%2520Indian%2520Tradition/Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj/Teachings%2520by%2520Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj/Teachings%2520by%2520Nisargadatta%2520Maharaj.pdf+ the+seed+of+sentience+sprouts+into+the+light+of+da y+before+it+begins+to+secure+itself+by+the+clingin g+of+its+roots&hl=en&gl=ca), I found this paragraph:Understand that the consciousness has arisen spontaneously in you, the Absolute. Once you are conscious of yourself you know you exist and you love this beingness; you do not want this beingness to depart from you, and it is this that makes you strive all day until sleep overcomes you, in order to keep the beingness satisfied. Then the guru tells you the true state of affairs, that this consciousness which you love so much is only an illusion. It is the basic cause of all unhappiness and your true state is before this consciousness arose. Understand this thoroughly, intuitively, beyond all words and concepts, but also know that if this understanding is just something happening in the intellect it will be of no use to you, because it will be at the level of phenomenal consciousness... concepts... and that consciousness is nothing but illusion. Whatever you know is imperfect, fraudulent. Go where you do not know. Recede into the source, into no form, no beingness; there you are perfect. Whatever you witness will not remain with you; it is imperfect. The one who recognizes the imperfect as imperfect is perfect; that one is complete in himself.
Have firm faith in the words of the guru. Nothing, nobody existed prior to you. When your beingness appeared then everything appeared. Understand that first moment when you understood that you are, the point at which everything arose. The source and the end are the same point. In the spiritual hierarchy going from the grossest to the subtlest, you are the subtlest. The very base is you, full and complete, without need for knowledge of who you are. Suddenly the space-like, all-pervading 'I amness' appears. Spontaneously, uncalled for, the beingness has come and is being witnessed by you, the Absolute. Later, this space-like 'I amness' disappears and the beingness goes back into oblivion. You remain in the eternal state, your true unchanging state. Prior to your beingness, nothing was... but you, the Absolute. After the beingness comes, still all there is is you, the Absolute. Without the beingness you, the Absolute, don't know you are. You are without any stigma, not covered by anything. You are the Paramatman, the core Self, the highest Self, the Absolute, subtler than space, beyond consciousness, beyond the 'I amness'.
In meditation, let your beingness merge in your Self, the non-dual state. Remain still. Do not struggle to come out of the mud of your concepts, you will only go deeper. Simply abide in the stillness. The Self has no occasion to say it exists; it is in eternity. When there is no body-mind there can be no practice; only the stillness of the Self remains.
I had no knowledge of this guru, Nisargdatta Maharaj (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj#Quotes_of_Nisargdatta_Maharaj ), until today. It is interesting how sometimes you can tumble and roll into insight. :)