TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0355 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

|| 4.02 | BRAHMAN AS CONSCIOUSNESS OR INTELLIGENCE | CONT ||

This knowing Subject is unseizable , indestructible , unattached , unbound , changeless , unaffected .

It stands opposed to everything that is objective , as light is set against darkness . It eludes the grasp of one who is engaged in objective consciousness .

The whole world is objectively busy , and therefore , BRAHMAN is unknown to the world .

We are always conscious of something other than the Self , both in the waking and the dreaming consciousness .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0356 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

It is only in deep sleep that we practically become one with the ABSOLUTE .

But the presence of ignorance , the store of the potential objective forces existing in an unmanifested state , prevents us from having the experience of BRAHMAN .

The unmanifest inert condition is not Reality .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0357 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

Reality is dynamic Consciousness ; yet , it is the highest tranquillity .

It is the unimaginable fourth state , which includes and transcends the other three states .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0358 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The Real sees not and knows not anything ;
IT is seeing and knowing ITSELF .

" IT , the Seer and the Knower , has no interruption of seeing and knowing , because IT is Indestructible — there is nothing second to and distinct from IT , for IT to see and know . "

" Even as a lump of salt has no distinguishable in or out , and consists through and through entirely of the essence of savour , so in truth this Self has no in and out , and consists through and through entirely of the mass of Consciousness . " ( Brih . Up . IV . 5 . 13 )

" As a lump of salt thrown into water would dissolve in the water itself , and there would be nothing of it to be picked up , but wherever one may take it , it tastes salt alone , so indeed is this Great Being , Infinite , Endless , only a mass of Consciousness . " ( Brih . Up . II . 4 . 12 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0359 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

That is the Ocean of Wisdom and Light in One .

" There no sun shines , no moon , no stars , no lightning , no fire ; from It , which alone shines , all else borrows light ; the whole world is illumined at its splendid shining . " ( Katha Up . V . 15 )

One who has the Consciousness of this lives in eternal sunshine ; it is always day , the sun does not set .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0360 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The Atman is compared to a bridge that connects worlds together .

" Upon crossing that bridge , if one is blind , one becomes no longer blind ; if one is wounded , one becomes no longer wounded ; if one is diseased , one becomes no longer diseased . Upon crossing that bridge , even night appears as the bright day , for the State of BRAHMAN is eternally illumined . " ( Chh . Up . VIII . 4 . 2 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0361 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

In the Maitrayani Upanishad we have the statement that having pierced through darkness , one reaches That which effulges like a wheel of fire , the BRAHMAN which is like the resplendent sun , almighty , That which shines in the sun and the moon , in fire and lightning , and by seeing It , one becomes Immortal ( VI . 24 ) .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0362 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The Real is the ABSOLUTE knowing Subject , and hence ,

" IT cannot be AN OBJECT of Worship " . ( Kena Up . I . 4 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0363 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The internal mechanism of knowledge , together with the senses , is itself an inert object lighted up by the subject which is BRAHMAN-CONSCIOUSNESS .

" Everything that this heart and mind are , consciousness , lordship , discrimination , intelligence , wisdom , perception , steadfastness , thought , control over thought , despondency , memory , will , determination , life , desire , attachment — all these are mere appellations of Pure Consciousness .

All this is guided by Consciousness , is grounded in Consciousness ; the world has Consciousness as its guide . Consciousness is the Basis . Consciousness is BRAHMAN . " ( Ait . Up . III . 2 . 3 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0364 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

" Whoever knows I AM THE ABSOLUTE becomes this ALL . " ( Brih . Up . I . 4 . 10 )

IT is the Infinitude of the intensest Knowledge .
IT Knows ITSELF as Self-Identical .

" There is none who knows IT .
IT is the Great Primeval Being " ( Svet . Up . III . 19 ) .

IT is supramental Awareness which constitutes the essence of Existence . IT is Consciousness without thought .

IT is " param vijnanat " , " superior to relational knowledge " .