Self Realization Fellowship by Paramahansa Yogananda

Actually, thats what I said.

The trancendence of self has to begin with "as if". Baby steps. You have to imagine it before you can realize it because the mind must have a tangible concept in front of it in order to pursue it.

The same visualization method is used by athletes to prepare for an event.

This event is will change your world because it will change you.


x

 

I dont know.

Recently I've been feeling as if Im not who I think I am. Like the real me has been hiding for some reason.

I dont really understand what you guys mean when you say everything is a part of me.

 

Yes, except that unlike a sporting event, the mind is incapable of conceiving of the nature of enlightened consciousness. It could be likened to suggesting that a blind person imagine a rainbow.

What's more, a sporting event occurs within the confines of linear time and our physiological forms. Enlightenment transcends both. How can one visualize themselves attaining oneness with the universe when they still conceive of themselves as a separate entity? The question still remains: Who is the visualizer?

To quote Einstein, one cannot solve a problem on the level upon which it was created.

Travis

 

We just mean that you have become falsely identified with the fragment of universal consciousness that happens to be occupying your mind and body. You've forgotten that your true form encompasses all of infinity.

Travis

 

how can I encompass all of infinity?

that would mean that you, xexon and everyone else is really me.

 

Exactly.

Travis

 

then what are you?

 

I'm you of course -- in the form of me.

Travis

 

that went right over my head.

lol.

 

well I wish you guys would elaborate more. Im genuinely curious.

or am I just not getting it or something?

 

What would you like to know?

Travis

 

I dont really know. I guess we could start with why you believe this...

 

I don't believe it -- I know it. How do I know it? Because I engaged in certain spiritual practices that allowed my awareness to expand beyond the confines of my physical body. I became attuned, to a degree, with the interconnectedness of all life. I have not yet embodied my true nature, but I have glimpsed it. I have seen enough to know that our separative existence is illusory.

Travis

 

Im just not following you.

how can our separate existence be an illusion?

 

There is only one consciousness.

This one consciousness can give 6 billion people the ability to independently think and reason and structure complex lives. It can do so with no strain whatsoever.

This one consciousness also maintains all the countless levels of existance outside of this realm. It gives awareness to literally trillions of human souls who will never incarnate here.

You are a part of this singular consciousness in the same way a brain cell is a part of the brain. Your input contributes to the whole.

Right now, you can only operate through the personal mind. When this is trancended, you operate through the divine mind and the personal mind in a kind of symbiotic relationship.

Its the old self, with a wider awareness. Much wider. So unbelieveable, even religious mytholgy on the subject is a poor description.

It HAS to be experienced.



x

 

how do you know that is true though?

it seems like what you're saying is that individually we dont exist. what happens to us then?

and how is all of that experienced?

 

It's not that we dont exist individualy neo, it's that it is an illusion. A desk made out of wood exists, right? But in the cosmic eyes it's a blink. It used to be a tree, in a hundred years it will be trash, in another hundred years it will be spread out all over and be many different things. Well, we are the same way. We can only perceive, using our eyes and minds, the universe at our own pace. But if we imagine playing it on fast forward, we will see that we are all nothing more than energy flashing by on something's screen. The energy in you is the energy in me. But that is only one level, then you have the One consciuosness which descended upon beings and made them aware. When you transcend more and more levels, you realize that they all emanate out of one source and are therefor, One thing. Your mind is connected to a web network of Mind Essence, like when you plug into the internet. Meditation is plugging into the internet of God, the network which everything is controlled by. Without that network you fall apart, and without the internet you cant communicate with any of us. But when your here talking to us, we are all tuned into the same thing. It's not the best example but it's close enough, I think.
And you can only know something is true when you experience it, radar has said that he's only glimpsed it, it's the same with me. But you get to a point where you recognize that as reality and strive to understand this reality as an illusion, a temporary illusion, a screen, covering God. For if God where to manifest to us without us doing any work, well, what should be the point then?

 

well, what is the point in us even existing?

I dont know this is just confusing and I dont think Im really grasping it.

where do we end up when we die? do we reincarnate here or somewhere? but what if we are finished, enlightened or w/e. what then?

 

To quote another wise member of these forums: "We are born out of the universe's necessity to know itself."

I think you comprehend more than you're letting on, most likely to yourself as well.

I personally can only answer questions like these based on the knowledge provided by those who claim enlightenment or who have clairvoyant abilities, as I myself do not remember my past lives or any type of afterlife experience.

Most spiritual teachers tell us that the cycle of death and rebirth is perpetuated by attachments to the material world. Our souls will continue to reincarnate in different forms and under different circumstances in order to facilitate the evolution of our consciousness. This process culminates in enlightenment, which liberates us from our bondage to the mortal coil. Some say that we can then choose to reincarnate on Earth again in order to act as wayshowers for the remnants of humanity that are still mired in suffering and ignorance. Jesus was most likely an example of this phenomenon. Ultimately, upon the attainment of enlightenment, we earn the right to exist in an entirely incorporeal state, perpetually aware of the infinite nature's of our beings.

Travis

 

I'm glad lots of people are interested in these things

I think, to give a purpose to existence is to limit existence. There is everything and there is nothing, all at once. The universe is observing itself, we're like sightseers, here to enjoy the ride, to see and feel anything, the ride gets really bumpy when it gets hijacked.

I refer to a metaphor of an electric circuit;
There are wires in the circuit, a light bulb, and a switch. The switch is consciousness, turn the switch on and the current flows through the wires and the light bulb lights up, illuminating the world and everything within it. Without consciousness, the switch is off, and all the lights are out. The universe still exists, but it cannot be seen or made a part of reality (because reality would cease to be also.)

The world (and universe) are dependent on consciousness, as consciousness is dependent on the world too. So, inessence, they are both two parts of the same thing, like a machine working together to create one outcome.

The one thing that connects us all and can define us is that we are aware of our existence, and so aware of the world around us, for it is us. That is why I can say that I know this to be truth, because I have experienced this directly, as has everybody else that is alive. Most just aren't aware of who they really are.

As to your question about death, well, consciousness isn't created or destroyed, it just is. The bodies that we dwell inside will die, but we are not those bodies. To be aware of who we are is to come to know this, it came to me as undeniable proof that we go on being, because we are all alive now, in this moment, and that is what we are, all of us.

Everything is connected in this way, everything dependent on everything else, this is how it will always be. The trials and suffering of daily life dissolve upon realising this because those things are transient, constantly changing, and cannot define us.

Please disregard anything I say that you don't already know deep down