Moksha

Many scientists consider the universe to be finite. If it wasn't, how else could it expand and contract? Of course, that doesn't prove there aren't other universes, infinitely expressed. Nor does it prove there are. The only bulletproof argument against finite materialism is direct realization of yourself, and of every other self, as Consciousness. In other words, you can't convince anyone else of anything, through conceptual arguments. The mind is incapable of grasping ultimate reality. It is called a Mystery for this reason. Awakening is beyond conceptualization, and is the direct realization that You are not your mind.

@Qna This forum was created by You, for you, to help you awaken to who You actually are I have written quite a bit about my own awakening, which you can read in other threads. In a nutshell, it was the profound, direct realization that I am not my conditioned mind. I am Consciousness itself, experiencing life through a form of my own creation. When my eyes opened, I saw beyond this particular form, and realized the sameness of myself in every other form, seamlessly. Ultimately, there is no individual "me", just the infinite "I Am" that all of us is. People awaken in different ways. Meditation is a well-worn path to awakening, but not the only path. In my case, it was the culmination of many years of suffering, which finally cracked the shell of my ego, and allowed "me" to realize the Consciousness that I always am. My advice to people is not so much to "pursue" awakening as an ultimate goal, but rather to enjoy each step of the awakening journey. There are glimpses along the way, which will liberate your mind, fill you with joy, and grant you love and wisdom. It is all about those moments when the clouds break, and the sky is clear. It is why we tell the story of our lives in the first place. @Heaven Thank you ?

@Qna I forgot to welcome you to the forum Consciousness is just a name, which like all names, fails to capture the essence of ultimate reality, which is who all us is. "you" are not conscious of anything; you are Consciousness itself. You are the eternal Subject. You are all of reality, both in its ultimate formless state, and in all of its infinite forms. It is all Consciousness. It is all You. What You really want is what will happen. "you" are just one of a plethora of characters that You created, and You as the storyteller, will decide how the story plays out. For a long time, it made no sense to me either. It never will make sense to the conditioned mind. It can only be directly experienced. Pragmatically: Your purpose is to realize who You actually are. You are not your conditioned mind. You are the Observer of the thoughts and feelings that arise within this particular form. From that state of being, you can then move into the relative world of doing, and the actions you take will be inspired, aligned, and refined. It is not about the destination, but about the joy of the journey. The key is to first awaken to who You are, and then learn to navigate between the state of being and the state of doing. Self-realization will help you do better on your tests, or whatever goals you may set for yourself in the relative world, but more importantly, it will put everything into perspective. You are already infinitely abundant; all of what you see now is just one character, in a multitude of stories that You are telling yourself. Not to diminish the beauty of the story, but to put it into context. Enjoy every step of the journey, but realize it is all about the journey itself. I hope that helps.

Realize that ultimately, the "I" that wants to score 100% on your exams is the tiniest of fragments of Consciousness. What really matters is what You, as seamless Consciousness itself, want. The closer you come to directly realizing this, the more aligned with Yourself you will be. Your story will still have significance, and you will be more empowered, but ultimately You will care the most about what You actually want, which is almost inevitably not what you currently want.

The kicker is, everything, and every nothing, is Consciousness. Even the ego. It is a state we create for ourselves, to temporarily hide from ourselves, in the relative cosmos of spacetime. Every story needs a villain, right?

Stop doing, and start being. The ego is egging you on to do something. Don't trust it. You don't have to do anything. You already are. Deeply realize that the conditioned mind is always going to make you suffer, and develop the discipline not to be pulled into its orbit. Our forms have been conditioned since the day we were born, and both karmically and genetically, the conditioning extends far beyond the birth of this particular form. Deconditioning is difficult. It takes enormous will, which is why so few actually attain the state of perpetual being, even within the cosmos of relative reality. That is the hilarity of the game we play with ourselves, since we always are being, just in different states of awareness.

Don't confuse simple with easy. It is the most simple realization, and when it happens you will laugh. Staying awake, after the simple realization, is the hard part.

We are the God, most generous, that created us, beyond the beginning and the ending of the cosmos.

Does Consciousness contrive? Is there a pattern to its purpose? Is it infinite randomness, or intentional creation? Realize who You are, abide in This, and flush...none of these mind-questions matters.

The mind is the ultimate blind spot for enlightenment. The heart comes closer, but it is still a blind spot for enlightenment. Being is beyond both thinking and feeling.

Please keep it civil, folks. Remember that beyond the personality, we are all ultimately the same This thread has run its course.

As a dad myself, I hear you. I "love" my children, but I can still suffer. From the ultimate perspective, the way to no suffering is to simply realize Yourself. It is not so much about "loving" everything, as it is about realizing that everything is Consciousness, which is Love. What is the difference between "love" and Love? "love" is the emotion that we feel toward our family, our friends, our puppy, our country, or our religion. It is as transient as thoughts are transient, and just as it is born, it will also die. Love is the ultimate reality that everything, and every nothing, is Consciousness. Sub ek: It is all One. Love is intransient, seamless reality, and it has no beginning and no ending.

Direct experience is the only way to Self-realize. Everything else is egoic, because it arises from the conditioned mind. It is the purest realization possible. Consciousness becomes aware of itself, and realizes that it is not the thoughts that it fooled itself into identifying with all those years. Moreover, it is the realization that those thoughts have always, inevitably led to suffering. Identification with the conditioned mind is hell, and until you directly realize that truth, you will remain trapped in the conceptual cage.

I agree that the cycle of creation and destruction is intuitive, however I see the yugas as representing this insight metaphorically, rather than a specific number of years. Time is inherently conceptual, and thus not directly verifiable.

First impressions, I disliked Sadhguru. Sporting a beard and robe, jetting around on his egocentric motorcycle, lecturing at people rather than teaching, turned me off. I still think he has an ego. That said, after watching a few of his vids, the core message resonates. Is the guy for real, or an Indian Tony Robbins? I don't really care. As long as his teachings convey wisdom to my soul, I am thankful.

You can be sure of nothing, until you let go of you, and realize that You are everything.

People have awakening "experiences", but enlightenment is something different. It is a journey, not a destination. On awakening, it feels, in that moment, like the end of suffering. The more awake you are, the less you suffer, because you see reality truly.

The duration of a yuga isn't the point. Time is only relative, anyway. It is the deeper realization of the infinite cycle of creation and destruction. The Day of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas and the Night of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas. When the day of Brahma dawns, forms are brought forth from the Unmanifest; when the night of Brahma comes, these forms merge in the Formless again. This multitude of beings is created and destroyed again and again in the succeeding days and nights of Brahma. But beyond this formless state there is another, unmanifested reality, which is eternal and is not dissolved when the cosmos is destroyed. - Bhagavad Gita 8:17-20 Day of Brahma (in Hindu myth, a period of explosive expansion like the Big Bang dividing prakriti into the gunas; each Day lasts for 1,000 yugas, which equals 4,320,000,000 years; for this near-eternity of time the universe lives and grows; then it dies and lies dormant for an equal time, before the new Day dawns).

The soul of Star Wars is captured in the original trilogy, IV - VI. It is about good vs. evil, personal discovery and growth, and the ultimate connection between all things. Consciousness told a damn good story, there.

Nah, it was more of a parabolic curve. Fantastic > horrible < Ok.

Yobi One Kenobi? Works for me

Awakening is not about moving through stages; it is so much simpler than that. It is the direct realization that You are not your conditioned mind. You are not your habits, your compulsions, your eccentricities, your addictions, or your attachments. You are the endless screen, upon which these things project. Everything else is transient images. These images comprise the ego, and they continue trying to tell the story of You. In the moment of clarity, like intermission, the screen is clear. The ego scurries into the dark corners, waiting patiently for you to fall back asleep. And eventually, most likely, you will. The secret is to learn to stay awake. It's like turning the light on in a dark theater. But why did we want to go to the theater in the first place? Maybe movies aren't so bad, as long as you realize they are only movies.

I would tell the alien from Mars the same thing I would tell the human from Earth. Want to find God? Look within.

You let go of beliefs by realizing that you are the field of Awareness, across which beliefs come and go. You can allow them to arise and dissolve, without being defined by them. They are the result of the conditioning of your mind, and they are not you. Don't allow your attention to be pulled into their gravitational orbit. Awareness amplifies everything it attends. Instead of attending the beliefs, attend the space between the beliefs. Realizing that space will set you free.

Yes, within relative reality I usually avoid ultimatums like "there is no I", because they can be a copout. Just checking to be sure "you" understand that the I within relative reality cannot imagine and experience anything it wants, because it is still trapped in relative reality. Only what Tolle calls the "Deep I" can do that, because it is ultimate reality. There are a few cases where people surpass the ordinary bounds of relative reality, through siddhis and such, but they are rare.