The True Self-Knowing: By Dr. Harsh K. Luthar

Our consciousness or self -awareness appears to manifest through the mind/body. At the same time it seems that the mind/body, ego, and indeed all and any related perceptions, only exist within our Awareness.  This is a wonderful paradox to meditate on.

If we meditate and reflect, we can clearly see that we are different from our experiences and perceptions. All experiences and perceptions that we have only occur in our Awareness.

According to Self-Realized sages, a fundamental Awareness exists along with and independent of the conditions of the mind/body. We are born with this primal seed of awareness and it is a natural quality of the Soul. The ancients called this the Heart, which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Pure Existence, Pure Consciousness, Pure Bliss).

Although we experience the obvious fact of our existence, the conditioned mind puts a veil over our natural fullness of consciousness and fullness of bliss.  We only experience bliss or joy intermittently. When a desire is satisfied or we get something we want, we feel happy for a while. However, this happiness is subject to modification.

Our conditioned mind essentially dictates when we feel joyful, sad, frustrated, unhappy, miserable, etc.

In our meditations on the nature of consciousness, we can see that the mind itself is only a temporary condition that fluctuates depending on if one is dreaming, sleeping or awake. The expressions of the mind are based on our moods and circumstances.

In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the mind is absorbed into fullness of Awareness. Unlike deep sleep when one is unconscious, in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, one is fully conscious with mind having gone dormant into its seed stage. Because the veiling mind is absent, the core nature of Bliss is experienced in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

So, through meditation and reflection we can come to know of the transient nature of the mind and accept its fluctuations as natural. At the same time, our insights into our own mind and that of others allow us to be more non-judgmental and take things in stride.

The Heart, which is the Ground of Being embraces all conditions and yet remains fully independent of any particular theology, philosophy, or point of view, etc.

Once an ice cube melts into water, it is hard to know which portion of the water was the ice cube. Similarly, once the mind is absorbed in the Heart, One becomes the Heart. More accurately, One realizes that One Is the Heart and that One has always been the Heart.

One understand the true meaning of Sat-Chit-Ananda. It becomes obvious that the Reality of our Heart has been perpetually announcing itself to us. How did we miss it?

How could one ever have been out of the Reality of the Heart? The disappearance of this mystery might be called Self-Realization.