Non-Duality—Preparation and Achievement

The greatest achievements are usually hard-won. The achievement that surpasses all others is the awakening to the higher self-knowledge. This is to realise, as a matter of direct experience, that one’s innermost Self is not different from the Reality which underlies the whole cosmos. Through sustained efforts and an ever-deepening interest in the goal, we are gradually prepared for our final awakening.

It is a quest that needs our philosophical courage. This is because we are required to outgrow all limited notions of what we are and of what is of prime importance to us. In practice, this means to withdraw our sense of identification from our body and mind, and inwardly to uncover, and be at one with, the deepest centre of our being, comprehending that centre as our true Self.

To bring about this interior revelation, which contradicts and cancels the conviction that ‘truth’ is what is experienced by our senses and our mind, we need to acquaint ourselves with the subtlest of all philosophical insights. This is the claim that the freedom of self-realisation is already in our possession, and that the achievement we are aiming at is in some sense ever achieved.

This claim of perfection here and now is implicit in the non-dual meditation texts, which are expressed in the present tense. Our challenge is to gain the inner clarity that will allow us to sift away the multitude of mental notions that contribute to our sense of individuality, and awaken to our real Self as the immutable support of all experience.

Although the ever-liberated nature of the true Self is conveyed through the non-dual meditations and underlies our philosophical studies, there seem to be factors in our thinking that hinder our immediate and wholehearted recognition of this truth. It is as if we need to maintain a cautious disbelief that it could really be so. This cautious disbelief masquerades as a virtue, ensuring our reverence and humility, and protecting us from delusions of grandeur. Part of our growth in understanding is for us to learn how realisation, far from enhancing personal pride and egoity, will free us from all possibility of wrong identification.

Such reflections make it clear that a careful and thorough preparation is necessary for the would-be knower of Ultimate Truth. The emphasis is on adjusting our state of mind so that it becomes our ally in the quest, and not an impediment. Physical exercises and expressions of devotion may contribute to our sense of well-being on the path, but the real work depends on our willingness to train, transform and finally to transcend the mind.

What, then, is this Self that seems to elude our grasp? It is a principle that never changes, never dies, is unrestricted by any mental or physical condition, and is all light. By light is meant the ultimate principle of consciousness whose presence enables the mind to function, and it is the one Self that underlies and unites all beings.

Knowing the nature of the Self brings the highest satisfaction, and a conviction of freedom and fulfilment which nothing can contradict. This knowledge also brings a new meaning to the word ‘I’. Normally, we apply this ‘I’ to our body. Sometimes it also embraces our possessions, our family, our skills, anything which bears the mark of our personality. If the body is hurt or insulted, we naturally feel ‘I’ have been injured and affected. The same sense of identification is also applied to our mind and our feelings. We identify ourselves with our moods, our excitements, wishes, fears. These are the notions, often coloured by emotion, that contribute to what we call our personality. ‘This is what I am. This is what I am like. As for the happenings of life, of course I am affected by them. How else could it be?’ Ruled by this strong conviction of identity with body, mind and our environment, we live our life, and have our thousands of experiences of ups and downs, joys and sorrows.

But seekers of wisdom cannot rest satisfied with this way of functioning. They know that there must be something more to life. They take a philosophical view of this whole realm of change, inner and outer. They ask: ‘What is the source of all this movement and transformation? What is its purpose? What is the source of my own thoughts and feelings?’ Such questioning is accompanied by the intuition that there must be a deeper reality which lies behind all change, a realm of certainty and reliability, which, when known directly, will bring a final answer to the mystery of life.

Moments of heightened awareness come to each of us at certain times in our life. These openings cannot be forced or anticipated. Unexpectedly, when we are in a state of self-forgetfulness, we may experience a breakthrough in under-standing. Or we may be affected by some tragedy, like the death of someone close, when the usual values are eclipsed by the recognition of their transiency. If we are fortunate, at these times we may begin to understand that meaning and security can only be found in something transcendent.

Such thoughts have truth and quality, and do not visit us randomly. They are awakeners, prompting us to seek consciously and deliberately for the deeper reality—not in nature—but within our own being. And in all wisdom traditions we find there are practices that serve to prepare our mind for this inner enquiry, and for exploring more deeply our own nature.

What, then, is the way of preparation that ensures our development is safe, progressive and enlightening? As we have already indicated, the instrument we need to work with is our own mind. But it is the mind with a difference—a mind that has been controlled and pacified through regular practice. And it has also been purified through living in a spirit of peace, harmlessness and devotion to the quest for the liberating knowledge. In this way, the serious enquirer learns how to transform the aimless and wasteful mental activity into inner peace.

When the urgency of thought has been subdued, we are granted the opportunity to see more deeply into ourselves. Peace of mind, when matured, clears away obstacles to our understanding. To be established in this form of inner peace, makes possible the revelation of ultimate Truth that transcends all suffering and limitation. The sense of identification is realised as: ‘I am neither the body nor the mind. I am existence, consciousness and bliss. I am Truth, infinite and imperishable.’ The affirmations that were formerly made without a full conviction of their truth, now spring from an unqualified ‘yes’ that has its source at the very core of our being. This is the true self-knowledge.

The goal is therefore an inner realisation, and the way to it is an inner one. That is to say, self-realisation involves learning to unravel the true nature of our own being, our own consciousness.

Our preparation for enlightenment includes our willingness to withdraw for a short while every day from the outer stimuli and activities, and to give our attention to this inner realm of the mind. This is one of the aims of meditation. To begin with, it is largely a matter of learning to observe calmly the rise and fall of the thoughts and feelings that flash into the mind unpredictably. This ‘witnessing’, or calm introspective observation, involves standing back from the mental activity, and observing it, as it were, with scientific detachment, and learning how not to be personally identified with anything that comes up, however pleasing or disagreeable.

We have the power to view the mind as if it were something separate from us, which can be observed, much as we might view the images and actions that take place on a cinema screen. The difference is that the movie has nothing to do with our life, but the mind does seem to have everything to do with our life. So we might legitimately ask: ‘How can we possibly detach ourselves from the activities of the mind, and why should we?’

Here we remember the reference to the transcendent nature of our true Self and its presence as the inner light which reveals and knows from within the whole of our mental life yet is unaffected by any of the qualities of the mind. The Self is the innermost centre of freedom at the heart of human nature, and it is the ultimate master of the human personality. So when we observe the mind from within, as a detached witness, we are taking our stand on a higher part of our being, as one possessed of true power and authority.

In the non-dual psychology, our will is regarded as a higher faculty which stands above thought and desire, and can command them. No one’s will is intrinsically weak. It only appears to be unstable through lack of training and a clear sense of direction. Every day, thousands of distractions claim our attention and swallow up our life energy. These influences pull our mind in many directions, and create an endless thirst for new experiences and involvements. Yet our power of concentration and attention has many secret properties and potentialities. These are only awakened when we have learnt how to use our thought-force consciously, and direct it to the inner realm of the Self. This calls for a determined and resolute frame of mind, the ability to withdraw our attention from distractions and to cultivate the master desire for the eternal wisdom.

It can be seen that the will, under our guidance, plays an essential role in the cultivation of one-pointed concentration and single-minded purpose. Our practice trains us to use our will on the inner plane, so that the mind works on itself. This means that the higher part of our mind is deliberately stimulated and used by us, in order to give a new purpose and direction to the spontaneous mental activity, and, eventually, to transform that mental activity into inner light.

Even on a basic level, the teaching is that all of us should be able to think what we like, for as long as we like. This applies to our daily life as much as it does to our higher idealism. It includes the ability to stop and redirect any current of thought or emotion which arises in our minds and which we do not want. A higher part of our mind, associated with wisdom and authority, can be awakened. We can learn to become the director of our personality, with an effective power to intervene and turn the mind into a friend and ally in our higher quest.

As stated earlier, the goal of the non-dual teaching is already within us. It is self-realisation. But it is as if the infinite reality within us is under a veil, or a covering. This is the case when our minds are dominated by worldly experience, and we take it for granted that this world is the only reality. The higher conscious-ness has no place in our experience, and seems not to exist. The process of unveiling is gradual and has many stages, because the mind is by nature deep and complicated, a realm of contradictions and inconsistences. Altering mental habits is not the work of a day, yet our way forward is clear and well mapped out.

One form of ‘mapping’ is suggested in the interpretation of experience in terms of the three gunas, or ‘modes’, of inner activity, as presented in the Bhagavad Gita.

The first and lowest grade of mental activity is ‘tamas’, which means darkness. It refers to the lazy, apathetic, negligent and stubborn side of human nature, as well as to its genuine need for rest and respite. Elements of tamas are present in all of us. If this were not so, none of us would wish to lie down to sleep at night. Tamas is condemned when it starts to dominate life. Then it serves as a thick veil over the inner reality, and the light at our source cannot penetrate our conscious life; it remains closed in.

The next mode of mental expression is called rajas, which is a complete contrast with the stagnation of tamas. It includes all those forceful passionate trends of human nature which draw us into the battlefield of life, prompting us to gratify our desires at any cost. But rajas has its good side too. We need rajas to overcome the inertia of tamas, and to get things done. Competing in order to succeed or do better, is rajas. More generally, rajas is associated with all activity and passion-struggle.

The third and highest mode of mental expression and activity, is called ‘sattva’. Sattva means purity, light, clarity. Its outer expression is co-operation, benevolence, sympathy, compassion, harmony, order. Sattva is also associated with peaceful happiness and higher knowledge. The way forward to enlightenment is to fill the mind with the elements of this guna, sattva, for sattvic tendencies tranquillise our mind and draw us nearer to the interior peace and perfection hidden within the veil.

We will find that the ‘guna’ classification helps us in self-observation. Through it we can learn to witness our own mental activity in a spirit of detachment. For example, instead of feeling depressed if our body and mind are fatigued, we can think: ‘Well, tamas guna is having its turn at the moment. It will pass, and I will accept this situation with tranquillity.’ Again, if we are challenged by feelings of jealousy, resentment and revenge, we can remove the sting of this mood by reflecting: ‘Well, now rajas is having a little play. What useful energy! How alive and alert I feel!’—and the next stage is to turn the energy to something useful and creative.

If we can philosophise in this way, we find ourselves automatically standing back from the mental activity and loosening our tight sense of identification with it. We are therefore given a training—a self-training—in how to evaluate our mental states in the light of our supreme goal, and to make adjustments where necessary.

Sattwa is that inner condition in which our inner being can express what is best in it. The mind dominated by sattva forms the thinnest veil over ultimate reality—our own true Self or I. In sattva, the light and bliss of the Self manifests in the mind as deep inner contentment and a sense of the presence of a pure and limitless Reality. In sattva there is the intuition of one unifying non-dual principle in all things—a sense of underlying oneness. The thirst to extract joy from outer experiences is replaced by the genuine desire for liberation. Sattva is the preparation for self-transcendence.

There are higher faculties hidden deep in our mind, but these qualities do not manifest in the normal course. To awaken them, self-training and inner enquiry are necessary. These potentialities have nothing to do with charisma or the manipulation of matter. They include the ability to act and love without seeking any reward at all; to live free from self-will, in harmony with the higher guiding force; mastery of the mental activity; and the capacity to grasp the meaning of key non-dual texts.

The highest potentiality latent in human beings is the capacity to realise infinite Truth and be free. This is the consummation of all knowledge, realised as the ever-achieved Self-knowledge. It is the perfect and complete wisdom that satisfies forever our urge to know. We awaken to the Truth that in my true nature I am not finite or limited. I am not conditioned by the body or the mind. I transcend all the gunas, even the peace and purity of sattva.

The ‘I’ is thus realised as the non-dual Reality. There is now absolute security in the knowledge of ultimate reality as Self, and a consequent absence of fear and delusion.

B.D.