| The Self and the Body For
Self-Realization, it is necessary to know the
Self as transcendent of bodily form and limitation.
By liberating oneself from the ignorant misidentification
with the body and its attributes, one abides
as the infinite and the eternal.
Those who understand that they seek a Realization
that is not a bodily state, and who are neither
enamored of nor ashamed of the body, seek to
discern the Self's freedom from the body and
its attributes. That is, one should know the
Self's transcendence of all bodily definition.
The results of this knowledge of the Self's
freedom from the limitations of the body and
its attributes are bliss and peace that are undisturbed
by bodily conditions, spiritual freedom from
birth, growth, decay, illness, and death, and
transcendence of action.
A wise yogi, intent on the supreme Knowledge,
remains detached from the body, its attributes,
and its activities. He utilizes the bodily form,
while it is alive, as an instrument for self-
less activity inspired by wisdom, by the desire
for Liberation, and by the immensity of Grace,
acting with corresponding equanimity, purpose,
and devotion. The bodily activities are used
as an instrument that expresses the divine. By
contemplation on its wondrous workings, the body
may be viewed as a reminder of the supreme Consciousness
by which it appears, as does appear the entire
universe. The emphasis is placed, not on the
reminder, but on that of which one is reminded.
Yet, the yogi abides unmoved by pleasure and
pain, motion and inactivity, and birth and death.
For invariable Bliss, one must know one's freedom
from the body and all bodily attributes. Knowledge
is Realization. It is neither something done
nor is it any bodily transformation, but it is
the comprehension of what is true.
The Self is formless, birthless, deathless,
and immutable. It is eternal and infinite Being-Consciousness-Bliss.
Realization of this results from liberating the
Self, by the essential discrimination inherent
in the inquiry, from the illusory bondage of
ignorance, which is composed of the delusive
assumption that the Self is something other than
the true Being that it is. It is possible to
realize this true Being only if one is thoroughly
free of the ignorance that consists of misidentification
with the body, for a body has form, birth, death,
change, does not last forever and is not infinite.
As long as there is any misidentification with
the body, the real nature of the Self will not
be known, or the Self will be misconceived in
terms of the limitations of the body. When such
misconception is relinquished by a deep inquiry
into one's actual Being, the nature of the Self
is self-evident.
The Self is changeless Existence. The body changes
continuously, even if this change is noticed
only after some time. How, therefore, can Existence
be equated with the body?
The Self is birthless. There is no time when
it is not. There is no experience, no knowledge,
and no memory of nonexistence or of the commencement
of existence. The body has a birth. How, therefore,
can Existence be equated with the body?
The Self is immutable. There is no increase
or decrease in Existence. The body has growth
and decay. How, therefore, can Existence be equated
with the body?
The Self is deathless. There is no time when
Existence is not, and nonexistence cannot even
be imagined without oneself existing to imagine
so. The body is transient and is subject to death.
How, therefore, can Existence be equated with
the body?
The Self is partless, indivisible, homogeneous,
pure Existence. This Existence is beyond its
name. The body is a multiplicity of elements
and organs, a conglomerate of cells, apart from
which there is no entity that can be referred
to as a "body." The body is matter.
The Self is immaterial. How, therefore, can Existence
be equated with the body?
The body is composed of matter, the very same
that is contained in the food it consumes. Why
should one regard that as oneself? Before eating
it, it is not regarded as oneself. After eating
it, it is, by delusion, regarded as oneself,
provided one does not regurgitate it. After it
passes along the system of digestion, it is certainly
not regarded as oneself. Similar is it with the
parts of the body. They are regarded as oneself
only so long as they are connected with the rest
of the body. The misidentification is, thus,
arbitrary, and delusively associated with proximity
to the rest of the form of the body. How, therefore,
can Existence be equated with the body?
The Self is not momentary, but permanent without
a moment's interruption. Its Existence does not
cease even in the absence of perception. The
body is momentary. It endures but for one lifetime.
It appears only in the moments of perception.
How, therefore, can Existence be equated with
the body?
The Self is nonobjective and ever the knower.
The body is objective and always only the known.
How, therefore, can the Self's Existence be equated
with the body?
The Self is attributeless Existence. The body
is known by its perceived attributes, apart from
which there is no body. How, therefore, can the
Self's Existence be equated with the body?
The Self is continuous. It does not commence
at birth, and it does not cease at death. Existence
does not have the attribute of .living" or
.dead." Existence and the Knowledge of Existence
are full and not partial. Knowledge of Existence
is not sporadic and does not move about to different
parts. The Existence of the Self is the constant
background of the body's appearance and disappearance,
and, likewise, of the waking and other states
of mind. The body is discontinuous in several
ways. For the body, there is life and death.
The experience of the body is sporadic in perception,
with only one, or a few, parts, limbs, or senses
experienced at any one time. Never is one aware
of all of it at once. The body appears only in
the waking state of mind. How, therefore, can
the Self's Existence be equated with the body?
The Self is nondependent Existence. It is, regardless
of the senses and corresponding thoughts. It
is directly and immediately known. It is not
known through something else. The body is entirely
dependent on sense perception in order to appear.
The senses depend upon the mind. There is no
body apart from these. How, therefore, can the
Self's Existence be equated with the body?
The body has no sense of “I." The “I" belongs
to Existence. When the “I" sense is
confounded with the body, such is delusion, and
the Self is then assumed to be a bodily being
or an embodied entity. There is no actual experience
of being a body. There are only sense perceptions,
which are misconstrued in delusion. There is
actual Existence, with its own unbroken continuity,
the invariable, constant knowledge that you are.
There is no memory of being a body. There is
the timeless knowledge of Existence. Memory is
always only of something objective, yet the object
itself does not exist. So, the memory of it is
also un- real and cannot actually exist. The
body is an illusion in time and space. The Self
is not in time and space. How, therefore, can
the Self be equated with the body?
The notions of an existent body and that the “I" is
the body are only delusion, utterly dependent
upon the conception of such. The Self is self-existent
and not a notion or a product of a concept. The
Self is naturally, without effort, thought, notion,
or becoming anything other than what it is, the “I."
Therefore, the Self is not the body. The Self
is bodiless, immutable, indivisible, unborn,
undying, indestructible, ever-existent, continuous,
formless, partless, beyond the elements or matter,
nondependent, and self-existent forever. This
is beyond all doubt.
The Self is motionless and actionless. The body
moves and acts. The Self is not affected by the
actions of the body. It does not act, move, or
change by the results of the motions and actions
of the body. Abidance in this Knowledge alone
constitutes the truly still or actionless state.
This alone is truly Liberation from karma, which
can never be achieved within the context of the “I
am the body" notion and its corollary concept, “I
am the doer." All physical experience, from
birth to death, inclusive of everything between,
is only for the body. The Self is free of all
of it and without birth or death. The body is
inert and not endowed with Consciousness. The
Self is Being- Consciousness and is never nonexistent
or insentient. Being-Consciousness plus bodily
definition is called “life," which,
not being eternal or true, has a death. In delusion,
one thinks that the Self, of the nature of Being-Consciousness,
perishes, rather than that the bodily definition,
being with a start and false, cannot last.
Being-Consciousness, as it is purely, is bodiless
and has neither life nor death. In Knowledge,
this is clearly evident. Thus, one who abides
in this Knowledge of the Self abides in imperturbable
Bliss.
The Self is not located in a body. It is not
in space. It is not located in relation to a
body. That is, it is not in or out of a body.
It is simply undefined by the body. The Self,
being space- like but not in space, has no location.
Being is neither a particular part of the body
nor confined inside it. If it were a spot or
in a spot, the spot could be pointed out, and
that very form would be the Self or would contain
the Self, but, then, the Self would neither be
existence nor real, neither infinite nor eternal,
and there would be no liberation from bondage.
Then, the very declarations of the wise would
become false. This result and its causes are
absurd. If the Self would be located throughout
the body or in a bodily spot, such location would
be objective. The Self, though, is nonobjective,
and the nonobjective cannot have an objective
location or other objective attributes. If the
Self were located in the body, when that part
of the body underwent change or decay, so would
Existence itself. If that part of the body would
be lost, the Self would be lost; if forgotten,
then forgotten. The Self, which is real Being,
is never modified, is always present, and is
never forgotten. If the Self would be located
throughout the body, Existence would diminish
and change as the cells of the body change. If
one part were lost, even a single hair or cell,
Existence would diminish accordingly. This, though,
is not so, for the Self is changeless and ever
undiminished. The Self is not located in the
body. The entire assumption of being located
in a body, as if the body were a container of
the Self, is not true.
The perception, or idea, of a body and the notion
of location appear in the mind, which is in,
and illumined by, Consciousness, which is beyond
all that. The known occurs within the knowledge
of the knower, which is of the nature of Consciousness,
and not one bit otherwise. Therefore, the Self
is not the body and is not in the body. There
is no birth or death for the Self, and the Self
does not enter into or exit out of the body.
It is not in relation to a body. It is not in
the body now, nor is it out of the body at some
other time. It is locationless.
The Self ever is as it is, with no modifications.
What it is, it is always. The body, with its
transience and mutability, is not an attribute
of the Self. The Self does not possess a body,
for, other- wise, it would always have it, which
is not so. Possession of a body is not in the
nature of the Self, and the Self, being Reality,
never changes its nature. The Self does not have
a body, as pos- session implies division, or
the duality of the possessor and the possessed
and posits their relation. Being is nondual and
indivisible. Existence is Absolute and infinite.
It is not in relation to anything. There is not
anything to which it could have a relation, as
a finite object might. The Self does not have
a body, as an attribute can only be for a “thing," and
pure Existence is not a thing. The Self does
not have a body. In this lies its great freedom.
The body does not possess, or have as an attribute,
the Self. The attributes of the body are not
the attributes of the Self. The body is a form.
The Self is formless. The formless does not have
a form in any manner. The Self is infinite and
space-like, ever the same, and bodiless. The
infinite does not wear a body, and the space-like
has no form. The body does not possess the Self,
and the Self does not possess a body.
May there be the conclusive Knowledge that the
Self is not the body, the Self is not in a body,
and the Self does not have a body. Know the Self
to be bodiless. Thereby, abide as the Self, the
bodiless Absolute. May this Knowledge shine steadily.
Go to Part
1 of this chapter. Go to Part
4.
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