The Ultimate Aim of Our Enquiry

This Self is the one unbroken witness of the dance of every intellect... It is the light that illumines all intellects and is illumined by none. It stands motionless amid the presence and absence of modifications of the mind. Naishkarmya Siddhi, 2:58 and 2:66.

Our path to Self-knowledge brings with it the awareness of our own mental processes, and this sensitivity to our inner world develops from the outset. It is a liberating insight, a gateway to a new and higher life, to realise that one’s inner base is not the surface world of flickering thoughts and emotional reactions, but something deeper and independent, a principle that is aware of thought, yet never changes, never appears and never fails to illumine.

At first, this sharper self-awareness seems to be a mixed blessing. In becoming more vividly aware of our thoughts and emotions, we invariably encounter discord and disturbance. Sincere self-examination forces us to realise that many of the problems that we characteristically blame on outer circumstances and other people, have their roots within ourselves. But our study of the non-dual teachings ensures that we are well-armed with the crucial self-knowledge that our true nature is the power behind the mind, and that the energies of the mind can, with practice and detachment, be transformed into an abode of peace, dissolving the veils of ignorance and allowing the supreme Truth to manifest.