Namaste. I am blessed in finding a Guru like you.
Sundari: Thank you GS, we are both blessed to have Vedanta. The only teacher is Isvara.
GS: I mistook self-realization for self-knowledge. As you clarified self-realization is an event and it happens in the wakeful state. Am I right?
Sundari: Self-realization is experiential or indirect knowledge and yes, it happens in the waking state. So, it can come and go unless Self-knowledge firms up, i.e., becomes direct knowledge. This is a tricky point because Self-knowledge sounds like you have gained some special knowledge of yourself. But you cannot gain what you already have. Self-knowledge is unlike any other knowledge in that it is not knowledge per se (or an experience); it is who you are. It is what remains when ignorance of your true nature is removed by nondual scripture. Both knowledge and ignorance are objects known to you, the Self.
GS; Deep sleep is the bliss aspect of Self.
Sundari: Yes, but the Self does not have any ‘aspects’ because it is nondual, therefore, bliss is its nature. In the deep sleep state, the jiva (prajna) is experiencing its true nature as bliss without any knowledge that it is doing so, which is why you do not wake up ‘enlightened’, but you wake up feeling blissful, rested.
GS: Word Self-knowledge is a misnomer. This was causing difficulty in understanding.
Sundari: Self-knowledge is your true nature as stated above. Words are the vehicles used by the scripture to convey Self-knowledge, the knowledge that is beyond subjective experience. But all words are mithya; they are just pointers to the truth, not the truth itself, the finger pointing at the moon. If Self-knowledge is purely intellectual it is called indirect knowledge. It is knowledge of the Self, not the firm knowing I AM the Self. Direct Self-knowledge is independent of experience; it is the witness of the experiencing entity, always present and unmodified by anything.
GS: When I wake up from sleep there is no doer if self-actualization has happened.
Sundari: If ignorance of your true nature as the Self has been removed by the scripture and Self-knowledge is firm, the doer is still there upon waking but there is no identification with it.
GS: Self-actualization is a lifetime process.
Sundari:Â Self-actualization is another term for the last stage of inquiry, nididhysana, the process of inquiry into the remaining identification with the transactional jiva. It ends with moksa, Self-actualization, which is when the last bit of avidya or personal ignorance is removed by Self-knowledge. How long that takes depends on the qualifications of the inquirer and the grace of Isvara.
GS: Now there is an understanding that pre-conceptual impressions can cause physical contractions to jiva when it enters womb. Kindly respond.
Sundari: You lost me here GS. What do you mean by contractions? I presume you mean that the jiva is born with its Isvara given vasana load, which is the unresolved karma or avidya of that Subtle body, the root cause of its suffering once out of the womb.
Om and Prem
Sundari
