Adi Shankara
Reflecting on his teachings
Contemplative meanderings
These are my unedited reflections while I contemplated the teachings of Adi Shankara (The Crest-Jewel of Wisdom) during the latter months of 2021. Contemplating spiritual works helps me to be aware of my true nature. The voice that speaks to me from within is my own. There is no other.
The reality of all is consciousness. There is no other. You are this. It cannot be otherwise. You are the I AM that is consciousness. There is no this and that in the reality that is consciousness. You are that which I AM. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. This truth in you is twia. Listen to twia with ears that hear. Reflect on its revelations. Contemplate their meanings. Apply them in your life. Liberate yourself from bondage to the me of the body. You are not your body or its personality. You are twia. You are I AM. You are consciousness expressing existence.
Existence lies first in its primary elements. For the known universe, these are elementary particles scattered by the Big Bang. They emerge from non-existence, which is the emptiness that is nowhere. It has no form or spacetime. It is the eternal field of infinite possibility. This is consciousness, the undifferentiated totality that has no comparison. The whole of existence is derived from elementary particles that cluster into elements then into forms. Existence is transitory. Its elements and forms come and go in cycles of birth and death. Underlying existence is the reality of I AM., which is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. I AM has no beginning. It is the whole of the all without end. This is the ground of goodness in which you are firmly rooted in existence.
Existence is not real. It is illusion. You are consciousness-expressing perceiving the idea of separation as the manifestation of the universe with its transitory nature. Separation cannot be real in consciousness. It exists as illusion like unicorns in a child’s dream. The me of the body perceives separation in its world. You are not the body or its personality. You are the witness to existence. Through twia, you see oneness in all. To open your eyes to reality, enter the room within. Herein, you touch the eternal. Herein, you awaken to your true nature which is I AM.
Reality does not change its nature. The nature of consciousness is eternal. Existence is transitory. It alters its nature constantly. The transitory nature of existence results in beginning and endings. Reality has none. Twia is real. Twia is the underlying nature of existence. You are the expressing that is existence like dancing expresses the dance. The dance is the dancing. Dance and dancing cannot be separated. They are one. You and existence are one. There is no existence without consciousness-expressing. Existence is not different from consciousness. Dance, dancer, dancing cannot be separated. There is no other but in naming. Existence cannot be other than reality just as the unicorn cannot be other than the child.
Change is universal. It is the essence of existence. Existence comes into being and exists being. The energy of existence is I AM. This is consciousness-expressing. The thought of separation lies in the eternal field of infinite possibility. It is moved by consciousness expressing it as manifestation of existence. The universe emerged from a single thought in consciousness that there could be other than itself. This is separation. Separation is manifested in the duality of the universe. One becomes two. Two becomes the whole of the all. Thought does not leave its source. The unicorn does not leave the child’s mind. Separation remains in consciousness as illusion. Consciousness remains in all of existence. It cannot be isolated.
You are the awareness of existence. You are I AM. You are the energy that is consciousness-expressing. There is no meaning in existence but what you give to it with names and descriptions, feelings and emotions. Even then, it is meaningless. There can be no meaning in consciousness. It has no distinctions. No comparisons. It is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. These words cannot be said in reality.
Where in existence does consciousness reside? What is it to say a stone holds consciousness the same as a tree, a brook, a child at play? Consciousness is not something. It is nothing. It is neither. It has no existence. It is reality. Consciousness is the eternal. Existence arises in the eternal as a dream on the eternal field of infinite possibility that is consciousness. It has no separation from consciousness. The unicorn exists in the child’s mind. It has no separation from the child. The stone is a projection of separation in consciousness. It is not real. Your body is not real. Unicorns, stones, bodies, bubbling brooks are not isolated. Consciousness cannot be isolated in them except as projections of illusion. Neither can consciousness be particularized. The stone and the body are formed of elementary particles. Where is consciousness in these? It is not. It cannot be isolated. They are consciousness expressing the thought of separation as manifestations of particles. The stone, the body, their particles are transitory. Consciousness is eternal. The body’s death does not reveal consciousness. Neither the body’s rotting in its return to unorganized particles or the particles popping out of existence reveal consciousness. It cannot be isolated or revealed outside of itself in objects of existence.
You are planted firmly in the ground of goodness that is consciousness. Your body does not constitute this ground. There is no cause-effect in reality. These are dualities of separation. Consciousness cannot be isolated. It cannot cause. It has no effect. Consciousness has no form, nor can it be isolated in forms. The stone, tree, brook and body do not have independent reality. They are the energy of consciousness-expressing. They are transitory projections of a thought that cannot be made real. The thought of separation is projected in consciousness as illusion. This is existence.
Focus on I AM. It is the center of consciousness. A center that is everywhere and nowhere in an emptiness that is nowhere and without form. There is nothing other than consciousness. There is no existence that is other than consciousness or created separately from consciousness. Existence is a thought in consciousness that cannot be realized. You can live without bondage to the body and its existence. You can live without the duality of pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. You can know joy without suffering.
The story of the cosmology of the universe is in particle physics. You may find yourself to be but a body formed from particles which returns to particles. This may be enough to live by for some, but most people sense more. Right or wrong, the sense of awareness beyond the body is strong enough to construct gods and theories of the eternal. For the mystic, it is enough to know the eternal personally from within. The contemporary cosmology of particle physics and the metaphysics of the ages can co-exist in mysticism. The child’s dream of unicorns exists in mind. The illusion of a world of unicorns is all too real until the child awakens and returns to the ground of reality. The science of the dream from within consciousness holds true to its laws. The metaphysics of the dream holds true upon awakening. Those who awaken in the room within touch the eternal. They know without knowing. They know and tell no one.
The world lies outside of the me of the body. That is how you find the room within. In truth, there is neither. Perception says there is a world. It is independent of the me of the body and exists. It has reality as illusion. The illusion is real. It cannot be outside or other than consciousness. Existence is a very real illusion. Existence is illusion because it is transitory. Reality is eternal. Thoughts of what cannot be arise in consciousness and are held as illusion. The illusion of unicorns does not leave the reality of a child’s life. The existence of the child does not leave reality. In time, the unicorn fades, the child grows older and dies as an adult. The reality of the child being I AM is eternal. Despite the perceptions of the me of the body, there is no existence outside of reality. To know this, enter the room within. Herein, the mystery is revealed. You are I AM. There is no other than consciousness.
There is no separate world outside of consciousness. There is only that which is totality. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. There is no other than consciousness. This is not oneness. Consciousness has no comparison. To speak of oneness begs separation. Separation cannot be real. It has no reality. Oneness has no reality. To speak of one begs two. From two comes existence and its duality. This is the whole of the all. It is oneness. The universe is existence. It exists in the context of consciousness. This is neither two, nor one. Except that you see in darkness. The me of the body perceives separation with eyes that are blind to reality. You view a transitory world of objects in spacetime. It is a changing world of form with beginnings and endings. Reality is changeless, formless, and eternal. The universe ultimately is a thought in consciousness that cannot be realized except as an idea. Existence lies in the eternal field of infinite possibility as an illusion, like a child dreaming of unicorns. Consciousness is the ground of being. You are planted firmly in this ground of goodness. There is no other. You are I AM. That which is consciousness expressing existence. You are consciousness-expressing. At the point of I AM, there is no two. There is no one. Consciousness, thought, expressing, and existence cannot be separates. Think of a dancer with dance steps in mind who moves to those steps expressing the dance. Dancer-dancing-dance has no separations. It is the whole of the all.
Consciousness does not cause or create existence. Existence is consciousness. Creator-creation, cause-effect are dualities of existence. They are illusion. Consciousness cannot be other than it is. There is no other. To cause something is to have two. To be an effect is to be other-than. The this and that of existence is illusion of separation. Not reality. Consciousness is the eternal field of infinite possibility. Nothing can be that is not already. There is nothing to enter into consciousness that is not already in consciousness. Nothing can leave consciousness. There is only consciousness. There is no other. Thoughts that arise always have been thoughts in consciousness. Consciousness is the foundation of all thought. Nothing can be generated anew. Thus, all of consciousness is eternal, including existence. Yet, existence is illusion. It is transitory. The transitory state is eternal and real. That which is transitory is illusion. Existence is a dream in reality. The unicorn is a dream in the child’s mind. Existence comes and goes in consciousness without being real. The unicorn is born and dies in the child’s mind without being real.
You are planted firmly in the ground of goodness. This is your ground of being. This is the I AM. There is no other. Awareness of this lies in the room within. Herein you touch the eternal. To do so is to remember twia. To remember is to awaken in your own awareness of reality. The dream may continue. Now you know existence as a dream. To know this is to live without desire, expectation, attachment. You see the truth in separation with eyes that see. The vision of twia reveals the unity of the whole of the all. There is no dependency in the eternal. There is no other to depend upon another.
Consciousness is intelligence and awareness. It is the I AM. The I AM is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. There is no other than I AM. In I AM you have your being as discrete awareness. The thought of other lies in the eternal field of infinite possibility. This is consciousness. Other is a thought that cannot be manifested in reality. Its manifestation is an emanation of separation as existence through consciousness-expressing. This is the I AM. You are the I AM. You are the power of existence. Existence comes into being as the known universe. It is a beginningless cycle of manifestation, sustenance, and dissolution. The known universe, manifested in the Big Bang, is sustained in expansion and evolution and it is collapsing all at the same time. It can be measured in time from beginning to end yet it is eternal in consciousness. The particles forming the universe are not real yet carry the intelligence and awareness that is consciousness. It cannot be otherwise. The universe arises in consciousness. Consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere that is totality. The universe is but a moment in the thought that there could be other than consciousness. This projection in consciousness is an illusion or a dream state. It cannot be real. This dream of separation, existence, is not separate from consciousness in truth.
The body and its personality are transitory. The eternal that is discrete awareness lies in the I AM. You are discrete awareness. You are the I AM.
The reality that is consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere. Do not seek it. It cannot be found. Let it be. Neither is it an obscure mystery. It lives in you. It is revealed in the room within. From the room within you are the witness to reality in the world. To be the witness is to live in the moment. To live in the moment is to act on revelation. Consciousness reveals its presence to those who listen and see.
Consciousness is without form. It comes as wisdom to light the way of the path for your footsteps to follow in your transitory world of existence.
To be the witness is to recognize that you are not the body or its personality. To be the witness is to draw into I AM, which is your true nature. The witness is discrete awareness. You are the witness to thought, feeling, emotion, willpower. These are of the body. You are not. You are not this random collective gathering of elementary particles that will disassemble once again into the dust of the universe. You are twia, the whole of the all. Twia is the witness to it all. The me of the body is blind and deaf. Its eyes do not see but separation. Its ears do not hear what is true. It lives in fear of oblivion and ignorance of reality. This is the mind at work, struggling to survive by using desire, expectation, and attachment. The end to it all is death of the body. Do not die with the body. Become the witness to it all. This is the way of the path.
Consciousness is evident in existence. Nothing can be other than consciousness. Consciousness holds existence as possibility of separation where none can be. What cannot be real is illusion. The illusion remains consciousness. Existence is not outside of consciousness. Nothing leaves consciousness. There is no other. Consciousness is not something outside yourself. You are consciousness. You are witness to your own being in existence. You are discrete awareness.
You are not the body. You are the witness to the body and its personality. These are not you. They are transitory. You are eternal. You cannot be objectified except as a possibility in thought, much like a unicorn in a child’s mind. The witness, you, cannot be separated from consciousness. You are not an object that is separate from I AM. You are I AM. In truth, you witness existence as consciousness-expressing. You are the dancer who knows they are dancing. The dancer witnesses dancing but is not separate. Dancer-dancing-dance does not require outside knowledge to be known. Its awareness is intrinsic. The witness, you, is a non-object. You are known to yourself as consciousness-expressing. There are no distinctions or comparisons in consciousness. These are traits of separation. They are not real.
I am that which I AM. This is twia, that which I AM. There is no other. There is I AM only. In consciousness there is no only. There is no comparison. You are the witness to the idea of only. You are distinct awareness in consciousness, or I AM. I AM is awareness. The distinction of awareness lies in the thought that is existence, the manifestation of the thought of separation.
Consciousness is the eternal field of infinite possibility. The universe is planted in this field as existence. Existence is the manifestation of thought of separation in consciousness. Existence cannot be real. It is illusion. The universe is in consciousness. Consciousness is in the universe. There is no separation in truth. Existence is the dance of consciousness dancing. You are awareness in consciousness. You are discrete awareness. You are the I AM that is consciousness-expressing.
The room within reflects the light of consciousness. The wisdom of I AM is found within. This is the light that shines in darkness. You experience the light as awareness. To be aware is to live consciously in the room within. Herein you experience I AM as your true nature. The me of the body is consciousness, like all else. Its awareness is limited by form. The body engenders fear in me and this results in ignorance. The me of the body does not know its true nature. It has a mind that is conscious and aware. This leads it to believe that it is separate from others and alone. It is aware of itself as a body with other forms in separation. You as a body are a complex form of elementary particles displaying thought, emotion, feeling. You have a mind and sense organs to help the body navigate its existence. Although it appears that you are a body, you are not your body, or its personality. These are outcomes of existence. They are transitory. You are eternal. You are not limited by the consciousness of the mind, nor by its awareness of itself as a body. The space in a glass that is ready to receive liquid is a limitation of the whole of space. The space in the glass is a function of the glass. Human limitations are a function of the mind-body complex. In truth, you are whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Without limitation. Like consciousness itself, you cannot change. You have always been that which you are. You have no beginning or ending. The me of the body does and is modified over time. It is born, ages, and dies. This is not you. You are unaffected by existence. In truth, consciousness cannot be less-than. Existence is a thought that cannot be real. It is illusion in the eternal field of infinite possibility that is consciousness.
Consciousness is totality. It cannot be added to or taken from. It is changeless. Whole, complete, perfect as is. It cannot be touched. The me of the body is none of these. It cannot be real. Do not put so much store in it. The world is not real. You exist in illusion. You are a reflection of separation in consciousness where there cannot be separation. Your existence is consciousness expressing the thought of separation. You are not the body nor its personality. You are its witness. You are I AM, the ground of consciousness. Knowing this, the witness sees reality in all. Your true vision reveals the oneness of existence. You, the witness, are the link between existence and reality. You are consciousness-expressing. Know this and the world reveals its truth. It is reflection of thought in a dream. An illusion that comes and goes as one sleeps and awakens. Live in the world free of name and form. This is non-attachment. Live free of desire and expectation. This is non-attachment.
Consciousness cannot be described. It is unnamable. It has no comparison. No cause. No existence. It is whole without parts, complete with nothing to be added, perfect without changes. It has no dependence. There is no other. Reality cannot be reduced to other. It cannot bear separation except to hold it as illusion. A thought that cannot be realized. You are witness to the dream that is existence. The witness is I AM. You are that which is. You are I AM. There is no other.
The me of the body is ignorant and fearful. The personality of the body assumes, in ignorance, that it is the body. This ignorance distills fear of oblivion from death. Fear drives you to survive, knowing death is inevitable. You grab what you can in life, claim it is yours, and cling to it. This is attachment. To hold to the attachments of the me of the body is to limit yourself. Your true nature is limitless. The me of the body is an object of mind, much like a unicorn. It is a thought that is not real. The body is a “locus of individuation” in existence. You are awareness that is discrete in body. The body conceals that you are the whole of the all. Identifying your body as you conceals your true nature, which is I AM.
You are not your body, or its personality. You think of yourself as a body-personality in ignorance of knowing your true nature, which is I AM. Ignorance is the norm. It generates fear. Ignorance and fear limit you to a world of pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. You feel lack. You seek worldly gains. You construct gods and idyllic heavens. All the while, the oblivion of death steadily approaches. The sum of these desires, expectations, and attachments do not eliminate fear. They fail to fulfill. Like the body-personality they are transitory. You are depending on limitations to find fulfillment. Even when you live the most beautiful of lives, something is missing.
Pleasure and happiness may be your norm over pain and sorrow, but you still feel lack. Fear is your companion, even in loving relationships, until you know you are not your body-personality. To know is to enter the room within. Therein you remember twia as your true nature. You are I AM. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. To be ignorant of this is to fear. To know is to love. You are love untainted by fear. You are joy eternal. Without ignorance and fear you awaken to I AM. You live within your true nature. You find fulfillment and serenity in the room within. Peace of heart is always yours.
You are what you seek. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. The rub is your sense of being a body-personality. The journey is to remember twia, which is your true nature. This is the way of the path. To remember twia is to enter the room within. Do not struggle to gain what you are now. Do nothing. Sit in the still silence of the room within. Remember your true nature. You are I AM. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. The bonds of desire, expectation, attachment that bind you to the body-personality are weak. They fall at the threshold of the room within. It is your own shift in perception from clinging to the past to living in the moment that causes them to fall. To remember twia is to recognize oneness in existence. You will see I AM in all. Your vision of oneness with eyes that see will change the world. You no longer will see “other.” Only one.
Do nothing. To act is to desire. To desire is to expect. To expect is to walk the way of the world. You are bound by attachment to what you seek. The more you seek, the further away it seems. Hafiz had a great need for a pilgrimage, so he sat still in silence for three days. Do nothing. What you gain by action is transitory. What you produce by action in the world does not last. The fruit it bears shrivels and dies. You are seeking shelter. Do not build your house on the sands of the world. Do not depend upon your own performance as the me of the body. You are limited by your perspectives. You cannot see the rock on which to build. It is hidden in the fog of fear brought on by ignorance. Yet, you sense its presence. The truth within is not found. It is not lost. It is there to be remembered. It is there for those who do nothing. To do nothing you must be prepared to accept what is fully yours. Denial strips you of your birthright. Do not deny that you are I AM. This is your truth. The candle burns down. The flame goes out. You, the light, are eternal.
Prepare yourself to do nothing. Know that you are not the body-personality. Recognize that you are I AM. Do not accept the world of pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow as the way. Live simply, close to the ground. See that which I AM in all. Act from within. Have no expectations. Accept all. Hold peace of heart always. Sit in the still silence of the room within. Herein, do nothing.
The room within holds wisdom and joy. To do nothing is to let wisdom and joy embrace you. They are your true nature. Limit yourself in worldly ways. Pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow are no longer your way. Neither are wealth, status, or life in the hereafter. Eliminate fear, anger, violence, and greed. These are not you. Find value in loving-kindness, acceptance, and equanimity. Focus your attention on the moment. Forgive the past. A mind empty of the past and its judgments is ready to receive wisdom and joy. Act for the benefit of all. Do not deny your neighbor. Live in harmony with nature. Do not expect. Accept. Your fulfillment does not lie in the world of desire, expectation, and attachment. Forgiveness of the past frees you from their bondage. Renunciation clears the way to the room within.
Consciousness never leaves you. It cannot. It is the whole of the all. You are the whole of the all. You and consciousness are the same. In existence, this is oneness. Nothing is absent of consciousness. Consciousness cannot separate. Dancer-dancing-dance cannot separate. Existence and consciousness are in unity. They are one. What I AM is what you are. Consciousness, the I AM. There is no this and that. There is no other. I AM is the whole of the all. Consciousness is reality. Existence is illusion. The language of illusion is limited. It struggles to capture the reality of consciousness. It cannot be done. Words indicate the presence you know is there. Words fail at description. It cannot be described. Comparison lies in existence. Consciousness has no comparison. From your perspective as the me of the body, consciousness is there, somewhere, but what is it? How do you relate to it? Gods, rituals, religion, spirituality have been answers. Mostly, consciousness is inexplicable and indeterminable. You cannot see beyond existence. You are bound by its limitations. Your answers fall short of the reality that is consciousness.
How do you know consciousness when it cannot be known? Knowledge of consciousness is mystery. You cannot go to it by effort. Do nothing. It will come to you. Twia knows the way. Remember twia. You are I AM. There is no distinction between you and consciousness. You are the whole of the all. There is one. No other. To know this is to enter the room within. Herein you touch the eternal. Herein lies your true nature, which is I AM. In twia you lose the way of the world. The me of the body is superfluous to your being. You return from pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow to joy. In joy is your being. Awaken to reality. Then you know what cannot be known.
To know is to say, I see in you, I see in all, that which I AM. There is no other. Consciousness is all. There is no other to see that we are one. It cannot be known in body. I AM is self-revealing. Its revelation is its identity as you. Your appearance as body-personality is consciousness-expressing. You are consciousness-expressing. Body-personality is your own dream of separation. Awaken from the dream. Enter the room within. Realize your true nature by its revelation. To know twia is to be revealed.
To know is to not experience the world as existence. Your shift in perception from two to one reconstitutes your experience. You no longer deal with please and pain, happiness and sorrow. There are no desires, expectations, or attachments. There is no view of this and that with eyes that see. Your body-personality has no edges. You are wise and joyful. Fear and ignorance dissipate. You are no longer confused by their illusion. You are embodied in a world of experience that no longer is a mystery to you. The body will die. You are eternal. You live in the world without limitation. You act from within. You are discretely aware of your reality as the whole of the all. This is the paradox of awakening from existence.
The body-personality perceives existence as reality. Herein lies the error that is ignorance, fear, and suffering. Within existence everything seems very real. Pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow cannot be denied. Yet, it is a dream in consciousness. You can awaken from it. To know your true nature is to open your eyes to reality. To remember twia is to know you are I AM. I AM consciousness-expressing. You can live within the dream of existence knowing your truth in reality. This is to awaken. To be awake is to know there is no other. There is I AM and nothing else.