Having read and practiced the inquiry into your own Self, there is a natural tendency to come to the conclusion " I have finally understood". But, if this thought arises, and a "me" takes delivery of this thought, then one has still not understood. It is only when this "me" says "I know that I don't know" is there clear Understanding. You say " how can that be? You mean to say all this time I have been fooling myself? Where does all this lead to? What is my final goal? What should I look forward to experiencing? Can I ever get there? You mean there is no hope of Enlightenment for me? Oh, this is all so frustrating!". If any question or answer still remains after inquiry then understanding has not occurred. There is still the misconception of being an entity, an "I" or a "me" that is a subject that will or has understood a concept or an object being described (the No-Thing). You are just going around in circles creating one concept after the other. In the final Understanding, there is just that Understanding- no one who can claim to understand and no concept or object that is understood. On Understanding, the one who thinks he/she has understood (the "me" or "I-thought" or the ego) disappears.
So, who is to understand what? The "I-thought" or a "me" is nothing but a thought and as we have seen, a thought has no substance or independent nature and is ephemeral (transient). Can a thought ( the "me" or "I-thought") claim to understand when it itself is nothing but transient with no substance or independent nature apart from the consciousness? So, what do you mean by Understanding? What really happens is that there is Understanding and then a thought arises and translates this Understanding into a subject and an object- the one who understands and the object understood. But, one should immediately question as to who this subject or the "me" or "I" is-who claims to understand. On questioning the very nature of this "I" or the "me" that is claiming to understand, it disappears- making it immediately clear that the "me" is itself a thought and then there is just SILENCE- NO THOUGHTS. In the absence of thoughts who is there to ask any questions or make any claims? So, all of this is happening in the form of thoughts. But, your True Nature is THAT which is prior to thoughts. And THAT is a No-Thing, just an empty presence, nothing that the mind can grasp, nothing that one can grab hold of and give to someone, nothing that one can describe in words, and nothing that a "me" can claim to attain. Yet that empty Presence or Knowingness is cognizing everything and functioning. THAT is the Presence of awareness or the Awareness of presence or the Knowingness. The word 'THAT' is often used as there is no other way to describe the Presence. All other words immediately conjure up images or concepts. Thoughts appear in THAT. You are NOT a thought. You are THAT! When there are no concepts-there is just THAT.
BEFORE a "me" started this inquiry, the sense of Presence or the Knowing that I am, was there. AFTER completion of the inquiry, THAT sense of Presence or Knowing that I am, is still there. Has THAT sense of Presence or Knowing that I am, changed in any way at all? So, what has changed? What has changed is this thought of a "me", who thought that he/she started an inquiry into the Self and having now finished the inquiry, feels great about himself or herself. What this Author is trying to point out to whoever is reading this article, is to stay AS THAT sense of Presence or Knowing that you are, which no one can negate or deny and which obviously is totally unchanged from the beginning to the end of this inquiry into the Self. So, it becomes clear that this sense of Presence or the Knowing that I am, is all there IS. Unknowingly, this sense of presence or knowledge that I am came and then a feeling that "I am this body" or "I am so and so" arose and mistakenly was taken to be the real. A feeling or thought is not the Real as it keeps on changing. What changes cannot be REAL! What comes and goes cannot be real- so said the great Guru Ramana. Feelings and thoughts including the thought of being a person, a "me" come and go. As in deep sleep, there is no thought of a "me' and yet I exist. One cannot deny their existence in deep sleep, for the one who on waking up says "I am" is absolutely certain that he/she was the one who was sleeping just a while ago.
This "me" or the ego, is nothing but a thought, and as soon as one wakes up from sleep, this thought or the "I-thought" takes ownership of this body and mind, and goes about giving the impression of being the do-er of deeds or the feeler of feelings or the thinker of thoughts, or the seer of the world of objects around. As soon as a thought arises, it conjures up an image of an entity- an entity with a body- a "me" that is based on an image created out of memory and previous thoughts, who then takes delivery of that thought. The imaginary "me" (which in itself is only a thought) then goes about being the judger, the evaluator, the decider, the chooser and the do-er of actions. How can a thought ( in this case the thought "I' or a "me") ever do anything? Can a thought hear? Can a thought see? Can a thought taste? SEE for yourself.
So, after all this reading or inquiry, can one say with certainty that he/she has gained anything? Can one gain Presence? Can one say that he/she now has Knowing that he/she IS? Can one say that he/she has gained Awareness? Was one not present and aware even without reading this or doing any inquiry? Is it not true that the one who claims so, is nothing but a thought, an imaginary entity, an image called "me"? This "me" wants so desperately to tell everyone that "I have finally got it!" or " I understand now" and this "me" wants to show off to all that "I have some understanding or knowledge that you don't have"- an Understanding that everyone already has- namely the knowledge or knowing that he/she IS! How ridiculous is that?!!
When final Understanding is there, there is no one here to take delivery of that Understanding. Meaning that a "me" disappears in favor of this Presence, which was always there anyway to start with. What has happened is that the false entity, the "me" has disappeared. Enlightenment is nothing other than the firm conviction of the unreality of this "me". The Presence or Knowingness or Beingness or the Awareness that one IS, has neither come nor gone, neither changed nor unchanged, neither gained any knowledge nor lost any knowledge, neither appeared nor disappeared, neither become enlightened or otherwise. What has happened is a bunch of thoughts (including the thought of a "me") have appeared and played a game called inquiry. All of this is just happening in THAT consciousness or beingness or knowingness. All a passing showing appearing in consciousness. So, what action is required to know that you ARE? Will any action lead you to that sense of Presence or are you already present? Does anyone need to tell you that you are present? Or is this knowledge self evident? Are you not present in the absence of thoughts?
THAT itself is no-thing. THAT itself does not have thoughts. Thoughts appear in THAT (call it Presence or Awareness or Consciousness or No-Thing or whatever else one wants to call). Being THAT means no thoughts- just Silence. In Silence, there are no thoughts including a thought of a "me" or "I-thought". Silence is just Being- not being a this or that. Don't try to be Silent- YOU already ARE SILENCE! The one that tries to be or do anything is just this thought "I" or the "me". No effort is required to BE.
So, who is going to understand this message? Is it not true that the one who wants to understand actually does not exist independent of THAT ? So, truly there is no teacher, no student, no disciple, no teaching, no one who can understand and no object or subject to understand. All of this is just an appearance in that No-Thing. Can any-thing come from no-thing? Absolutely not- you say. So, there is just this No-Thing and all else is just an appearance. End of story!!
Yes, even this Author is just an image for you, an imaginary entity who pretends to teach other imaginary entities about THAT, so that they may become free from their imaginary bondage. What will be absolutely clear to anyone reading this is that nothing has changed in the sense of Presence or the Knowing that you ARE, from the beginning to the end of this writing. And your True Nature is just THAT Knowingness or Presence. You did not start the functioning and you will not end the functioning. So, JUST STOP AND BE!
