68. Intellect Cafe

This is a compilation of short Facebook posts written over the last few years.

We have to come to terms with the fact that thought is just another aspect of our being. Only certain spiritual paths deal with thoughts and achieving intellectual clarity. But spirituality by itself does not mean intellectual clarity. I may be a simpleton and still be spiritual, and a wonderful human being. Lack of intellectual clarity does not necessarily make me non-spiritual or make me any less. Nor does intellectual proficiency guarantee any spiritual insights. Therefore there is no need to assert oneself when intellect is not sharp enough. Otherwise things will get twisted out so bad, that it may be quite troublesome to straighten them up!
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Jnana yoga is not about finding answers as such. It is about channelizing all the erratic questioning into one fundamental question, directing the scattered energy into one intense '?'. Answers given by the teachers, if any, on a variety of things, are only to plug the holes in your intellect through which energy is dissipating, through which you are slipping away.
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When water is heated in a vessel, if the vessel is not big enough, water may spill over and douse the very fire that heated it up, instead of the fire evaporating the water in the vessel. Just so, when one enquires into the fundamental questions of life, if the intellect is not robust enough, the content of your mind (read and heard) will spill over haphazardly, and douse the fire of enquiry ("Ah I know, I am the Self!"), instead of the fire of enquiry evaporating the mind leading to the direct revelation of the Truth.
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When probing into fundamental questions of life, logic eventually hits a dead-end, or becomes circular, or goes into an infinite regression. Most people coolly declare "Logic is limited" and carry on with their life. The prisoner comes to the prison walls, and casually walks away. How many refuse to ignore the wall? How many find the walls daunting and suffocating?
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Intellectual clarity includes the intimate and painful knowing of intellect's limits, and therefore an encounter with what is beyond. Without it clarity is still pending.
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"Intellect is limited" – if one is to make this statement, the limitation must be a living reality to him. Otherwise it is a case of fox and the sour grapes... or of deception where one tries to look wise by repeating someone else's words as their own... or of a messed up intellect trying to find an exit from a discussion to save itself from humiliation.
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"Jnana yogi learns to use the intellect the way a drunkard uses a lamp post – for support rather than illumination. He does not seek a PhD to validate the knowledge he has amassed. Instead, he understands that the intellect is an instrument of analysis, not perception. To perceive, another faculty is required" (Sadhguru)
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"Me and the world" continues because our attention and energies are always split. Jnana marga is to pay absolute attention to the 'I' through '?'. Bhakti marga is to pay absolute attention to That through ❤. Either way the drama ends.

43. I Die and My Soul Leaves My Body!

<< Previous - Where Am I?

This statement should perhaps get a Nobel prize for dumbness. It can be heard in many supposed-to-be-spiritual discussions. I die, I am ended. But somehow 'mine' still remains! It is still my soul that leaves the body!

This statement demonstrates to what extent "taking for granted" can go. It is such a common statement made by all of us so many times in our lives, but never trying to understand what is it that we are uttering, never trying to stop and look if we are making any sense or not.

So, there are three entities - I, soul and the body. So, my soul is also not me, it is only mine. I die, but the soul is supposed to survive my death! Ah! Then what is it that died? Body? No, it is still there, lying like a piece of wood. Oh, I get it. How about, 'I Am'  = Body + Soul? Ok. Then that means 'I Am' awareness must come only after the soul and body come together. That means soul is also a dumb thing like the body. Soul doesn't know that it is. It does not have 'I Am' awareness. It is just a dumb piece of light, like how they show in the movies. Does that look satisfactory from any angle? No, no, the soul must have awareness, otherwise how can it be soul? It has to be the source of awareness.

So, are there two 'I's? My 'I' and my soul's 'I'? Am I two? No, I am only one. There are no two 'I Am's. Awareness is not a cake to have pieces. Then, it is not my soul. It is me. Then 'I die' is not at all valid. I continue to be.

Now, the word 'soul' has not explained anything. It is just a name. Another word for 'me'. Same is the case with the word 'Self'. It is just another word for 'me'. You will see this in advertisements "God is your inner Self. Find your inner Self"! How many selves am I made of? Am I like the ring roads of Bangalore city "Outer Ring road-Inner ring road"?

Do I need books to tell me details about 'Self'/'me'? Oh, so I have to read books to understand what I am? A dead book, which cannot read itself, which does not even know that it exists, will give me knowledge about my Self? Great. "Book may be dead, but it was written by living people". Hmm, so what did the first living person do? He must not have had any books to read. Books came first, or realization came first?

Then why should I read them? For reference. To glance now and then. To see the records of experiences of others and compare them with mine. "I don't have any experience". Then I have become a tape-recorder. May be someday I will get fed up with my rewind-replay business and I will realize that books cannot tell me what I am. That is why I have to read books. To finally come back to square one - ask 'Who Am I? Where Am I?' to myself. To hook myself onto "?". To Enquire.

42. Where Am I?

<< Previous - Reconciling Jnana and Bhakti

Jnana Yoga only takes up questions that are happily ignored although they are right in front of us, or it analyzes the dumb answers given to certain questions that have been taken for granted. There are several, and we will look at them one by one in the coming posts. This post deals with one of them.

The feeling of awareness is always whole. There is nothing like '1/2 I Am' or '0.1 I Am'. This existence 'I Am' is always whole. Now the question is this. Where within my body is this feeling arising? If I say it is the brain as a whole, then, when a part of the brain is cut out, then the 'I Am' awareness should reduce proportionally. This is absurd. So, I will have to ask - where exactly in the brain is this feeling arising? I want to pin point my Self, my being. Is it arising in one of the billions of neural networks? So, am I just a mesh of 100-200 neurons? Is that my source being?

If I am a combination of several neurons, then what is the difference between storing an 'apple' in a neural network and storing 'me'? Evidently I access all other information. So, does it mean that one neural network is accessing all others? Now that looks ridiculous. It is equivalent to saying that 'I Am' is a 100 line computer program which is programmed to access/manage billion other programs! Fantastic but foolish!

Also, if I am a neural network in the brain, then I must have certainly pointed out myself as being there. But no, I point towards the chest to say 'I Am'. I never point towards the head when I say 'I Am'.

So, then, am I the heart? I mean the organ heart? But that organ looks very dumb! It is just a 4-stroke pump. I am that?! No, no, I wish not! This pump cannot possibly be accessing and managing all the information in the brain!

Then where the hell am I? I am not able to pin point my Self! Sigh, I hope that a scientist will one day be able to pin point 'awareness' in the body. Wait, What? I need another person to tell me where I am? This is absolutely outrageous. 'I' is not able to pinpoint its own location! All the intellectual arguments above is only to prove that intellect cannot give any answer. Now this has become an enquiry. A sense of "?" about its own source. Generate this "?" (related to 'Where Am I') when you say 'I Am'. This is another "?" that can grow strong over time.

Where Am I?

FYI - Along with 'Who Am I', this is another powerful enquiry that was suggested by Ramana Maharshi to seekers.

40. "?" - The Essence of Enquiry

<< Previous - Why we fail to practice

Although devotional expressions such as singing are normally associated with Bhakti Yoga, actual Bhakti Yoga is only about a sense of love and surrender, an inexplicable deep feeling of "♥" and is not necessarily the gross expression of it. Similarly, although intellectual analysis is usually associated with Jnana Yoga, actual Jnana Yoga is only about a sense of enquiry, an inexplicable deep feeling of "?" and is not necessarily its gross expression. Jnana Yoga can be represented with a "?" and Bhakti Yoga with a ♥. Both of these seem to be equally fundamental in us. In this post we shall focus on "?".

What does a plain "?" invoke in you? A sense of curiosity, wonder, enquiry. It is inexplicable but you can feel it. An underlying yet unmistakable current of inquisitiveness, which can be aptly symbolized as '?', and the ensuing urge to quench it, is one of our foremost defining features. Indeed, the root of the Saṁskr̥ta term manuṣya (human) is 'mana', which means 'to know'. To be human is to be a seeker, someone who wants to know. Deep within us there is a dissatisfaction because there is a constantly bugging "?" about the world, about life and finally but most importantly about ourselves. If we ignore this core longing of ours to quench the "?", and occupy ourselves solely with the affairs of the world, then it means that we are choosing not to be human.

Although a clear-cut question is not always formed, the feeling of "?" cannot be denied. Most of the times we are unsure as to what this "?" relates to, but it is certainly there. Sometimes this feeling comes to the surface and manifests as "What is the meaning of life, what am I doing here?" etc, but may not stay for long. Again it goes back to the depths and stays as a mysterious feeling of "?". The very reason for the feeling of a strange thrill in us when we hear the word "Adhyatma, Jnana Yoga", the very reason why there is an inbuilt attraction in us towards spirituality, is due to a hope that spirituality can nullify this enigmatic "?" by providing satisfactory answers, and get rid of the discontentment within us. All our efforts, material or spiritual, is only an attempt to rid ourselves of this ghost "?".

The first ever feeling that even a new born baby shows is clearly a "?" on its face. More than anything, it is in absolute wonder, about everything in the world that it is perceiving. This feeling is as fundamental as the feeling of love. If you go near the baby, it looks at you and it feels a "?", it hears you talking and it feels a "?", it feels some sensation on its skin and it feels a "?". Words and sentences are not yet formed in its mind, but a sense of wonder i.e. a "?" cannot be denied. The baby is perhaps filled with "?!?!???!??!" (imagine that!) and probably that is why it cries, out of frustration, unable to bear the onslaught of "?" and unable to satisfy this sense of wonder and enquiry. The closest sentence expressing the baby's mind is perhaps "What the hell is going on?! Where am I and what am I doing here?". We only postpone this enquiry by giving mother's comfort and milk to the baby. The baby enjoys the company of the mother and, for the time being, postpones this inescapable "?" within it.

As the baby grows older, it directs this "?" at everything it sees around it. The feeling of "?" starts manifesting as questions "What is this? Why is that?". And as adults, we continue this habit of directing "?" at external things. Discovery channel shows some documentary on galaxies and we watch it with a big wonder, i.e. a "?" on our face. A spiritual preacher talks about Samadhi, and there is a big wonder, a "?" on our face.

This way, all of us wonder about something or the other and we see a feeling of strange "?" and curiosity sprouting. But there is a bigger wonder to wonder about - what is it that feels "?"? What is the entity that wonders? How and where is this "?" sprouting? Now this is a loop - wonderer wondering about the 'wonderer' and 'wondering'. I generate a "?" towards the originator of the feeling of "?". This is the only meaningful and logical end of "?". Otherwise, I will continue to wonder about things, one after another. Now I wonder about atoms, then I wonder about space, then I wonder about Prana and so on and so forth. There is no end to "?" if we go this way. So far, there is no record of anyone who has found peace and fulfillment of knowledge this way. This type of wondering and intellectual argumentation is far from Jnana Yoga and will lead nowhere. But it is perhaps necessary only to show the enquirer that this is not Jnana Yoga. So, for the sake of formality, this step, where the seeker realizes that arguments do not lead to any goal, is also made part of Jnana Yoga. The seeker adamantly rides a donkey for a long time only to finally proclaim that it is not a horse!

In several stories and real life situations, we see that a boy born in a rich family does not know the value of money. He lavishly spends money for all sorts of things, and does not enquire about the value of money which buys him everything else. He takes money for granted. We are no different from such a boy. Just because we are aware and have the capability to question, we are lavishly using it to enquire anything and everything around us. We are not trying to enquire about the enquirer that is enquiring everything else. Awareness is always taken for granted.

So, running behind questions, one after another, is endless. The only possible end is to wonder about the entity which is capable of wondering, i.e. itself. Whether it leads to self-realization or not, whether it will be blissful or not, is irrelevant. How can I be without knowing myself? I must know myself, I have to understand this entity which is capable of enquiring. No matter how much I postpone, eventually I will necessary have to question about my own existence. No matter how many questions I ask about everything else, eventually I will necessarily have to question about the questioner. Self-enquiry is an inevitability, how can I be without knowing what I am?

Jnana Yoga is only about this feeling of "?" directed towards itself. The otherwise unending chain of questioning will only end when the questioner is questioned, when the enquirer is enquired, analyzer is analyzed and the wonderer is wondered about. And that is Self-Enquiry, manifested as "What Am I?" or "Who Am I?". The words are not important at all, only the feeling of "?" directed towards the source of "?" is vital. Although forming of words help in the beginning, enquiry finally moves towards wordlessness. It is just a "?" piercing itself. There is no involvement by intellect whatsoever. Enquiry is evidently beyond intellect.

The galaxies or atoms never wondered about themselves. It is only you that is doing it. So, clearly, the ability to question is far more mysterious than the objects being questioned. Questions will pop-up one after another and trying to answer them one by one is an unintelligent way of handling things. "?" is the common factor of all questions. So, we must enquire and know the source of "?" and dissolve the very essence of questioning. Certainly, this has to be the ultimate knowledge, where all questions are wiped out and there is no more a "?" within.

Self-enquiry is not about analyzing the mind. The usual notion when people ask the question "Do you know yourself?" is "Do you know the habits and behavior of your mind?". Here "knowing about yourself" means knowing the pattern in which his mind is working. But it is not at all "knowing about oneself". If I analyze my house, I haven't analyzed anything about me. If I analyze my body, I haven't analyzed anything about me. If I analyze my mind, I still haven't analyzed anything about me. I can say I have analyzed me, only if I analyze the source of analysis itself i.e. the analyzer. There is no more a Triputi. Seer-seen-seeing, Analyzer-analyzed-analyzing all three become one. This is the only viable end. There is no end as long as analyzer is not analyzed, no matter how many other things are analyzed.

This is why AI (Artificial Intelligence) cannot be produced. You cannot make a computer that is aware. If a computer is aware, that means a part of source code should be able to compile itself, which is absurd. Compiler is always different from the code being compiled. If I have a piece of code that analyzes some data, then I should make another piece of code that will analyze this first piece of code, and yet another that will analyze the second piece and so on. This way, "analyzer-analyzed" can never become one piece of code.

But surprisingly I am already that. This entity "I" is one whole piece, that is capable of compiling itself, and thus be aware. I knows I. The single word "I" denotes this wonderful thing which is impossible to develop for us. "I" am already this impossible-to-develop thing. So, instead of banging my head to create AI, why not enquire and know myself? "I Am" is an impossible thing, the biggest wonder. So, what has to be achieved has already been achieved. I have nothing more left to do. I am already that impossible. The wonderer is the biggest wonder. And that must be sought with thousand times more curiosity rather than going after some dead galaxy.

The sense of intense "?" will gulp all other thoughts as if they are insects. Have you seen any wavering in your mind when you are deeply curious about something? When I seek the source of "?", which is verily me, with keen curiosity, mind gets trampled under this enquiry. By wondering about this, curiosity can be watered little by little, no matter where you are and what your body is doing. I effortfully wonder in the beginning and when the current grows stronger, it will draw me in effortlessly. I will no more have to try anything special to calm down the mind.

Self-enquiry is not about the sentence "Who Am I?" or "What Am I?" and is all about the "?" in that sentence. Repetition of "Who Am I?" like a japa is of no value and meaning. It would be just like saying "Where is the Pen, Where is the Pen?" without actually intending to search for it.

Therefore, all I have to do is ceaselessly generate a "?" towards the originator of the feeling of "?", and wait for the answer to present itself.

33. Vivekananda's Involution Theory

<< Previous - Why So Serious?

More than a year ago, we were given an assignment in my M.Sc. class to prepare a presentation on Vivekananda’s Jnana Yoga. The presentation never happened. So I am putting it into some use here J

Modern Science – Statements

States laws of conservation – energy, momentum etc

For e.g. energy is dormant in A and B as potential energy, all of which is manifested as Kinetic energy when it comes to M. So, energy only transforms from one form to another – even a high-school kid knows this. So, changes occur from one form to another. Nothing can either be created or destroyed. Something cannot come out of nothing. (I was surprised to hear Stephen Hawking say “Universe created itself out of nothing”!)

The same modern science also declares that human beings have evolved from single cell organisms.

Objection

How can a highly developed intellect evolve from nothing?

How can a man like Buddha be a result of evolution from a snail?

Where has the law of conservation gone now? Is modern science contradicting itself? It may say that ego and intellect are not quantifiable entities, but it only means that we don’t know how to quantify them. Also, what is the need to quantify? What is sensible? Quantifying it or accepting our own common experience?

Answer – An Alternate Theory

The motion is in cycles. Every evolution presupposes an involution. The perfect man was involved in the snail.

- As per Hindu mythology and Spiritual texts

I could be Intellect in specific or Ego in general

Objection 1

How can both the extremes have I = 0? Then what is the point of growth and evolution?

Answer

Extremes have the same characteristics but they are NOT the same.

E.g. Light spectrum, Sound intensity

In point A, Ego and Intellect are absent (almost). In point C, Ego and Intellect are transcended. In the intermediate point B, ego and intellect manifest with full speed and is visible.

Objection 2

After reaching the final stage of Buddha (Nirvana) do we have to again start a fresh journey? What is the point of Moksha (Nirvana) then?

Answer

No, it is not a fresh journey. In one cycle that particular ‘I’ is dissolved. ‘You’ no more have an existence. What comes up again is a new bubble in the ocean of consciousness. Once a bubble has escaped, its journey is over, it feels one with the whole ocean. Another bubble, even if formed from the same molecules, is not the same bubble anymore. Following analogy of boiling-cooling water depicts this.

Water is constantly heated and cooled – a continuous process. So can we say that the bubbles formed are the same when the same water gets cooled and comes back to the jar? Water is same, jar is same, same heating, but the bubble is different. This is only an analogy – it cannot explain the whole universe! It is only to get an idea.

Objection 3

Does this mean that the cycle repeats in exactly the same way? For e.g. do we have the same Buddha in every cycle?

Answer

Consecutive cycles need not be identical. However, every type of cycle must repeat itself at some point or the other.

Thus, a particular combination must repeat itself at some point or the other. Similarly, the universe is a scatter of particles. Each possible arrangement of particles must repeat at some point or the other. So,

Infinite combinations – Infinite chances (cycles) – Infinite repetitions.

As Vivekananda puts it in his lecture "We must have had this same lecture before, in an earlier cycle"! Remember that it was 1893 and not sure how many in the hall understood what he was saying!

19. Sharpening the Sword of Jnana

<< Previous - Exit From the Endless Excuses

There are several questions in us that do not have satisfying answers. “What is life? What am I doing here? What happens after death? And most importantly who am I?”. Almost everyone asks these questions at least once in their life time. In fact, several times. But we do not get any answers. So, we push them aside and move on. But they never die, they are only postponed. They come again and again, every time we think for a few minutes, the arguments lead to nowhere, we then push the questions aside and carry on with life. What is the solution to this problem of unanswered questions?

The problem is not with the questions, the problem is in the way we are expecting the answers. When we ask such questions, we are expecting answers to come in a way that we want – like in the Q&A section given after each chapter in our school textbooks. Well, that itself is biased. We have absolutely no idea about the answers, then how can we ourselves decide the way answers should come? In the court of law, sometimes we can see shrewd lawyers trapping the accused by asking tricky questions:

Lawyer - “Did you tell the victim ‘I will kill you’ last week?”.

Accused -  “Yes, but we were having drinks and joking…”

The lawyer stops him and says “Answer to the question only. Did you say that to the victim?”.

Accused - “Yes”.

Lawyer – “Please note this point my Lord”

And the judge promptly notes down “The accused said to the victim ‘I will kill you’”!

Stupid, isn’t it? Same thing with philosophy. We say we do not know the truth and at the same time, we want the truth to come out in a specific way that we define. Then how can we guarantee that the entire truth will come out? It may be half baked like the statement of the poor accused above. And then we, like the supreme judge, will sentence the accused to death. We sentence spirituality to death “Spirituality is all bogus. Because it doesn’t give any answers”. How much of prejudice! We are not open to see if there are other ways of getting answers. We are not open to unknown possibilities. We want all answers to come as we define – as written answers on paper.

Answer will come, but not in the way that we are expecting. In spirituality, the derivation methodology can be shared on paper, but not the answer. That is why the terminology used is ‘Realization’, not ‘Understanding’. Why should we be adamant that answers should be put on paper? What is important? The answer, or writing it on paper? Why should we bother if it can be written/explained or not? Our primary concern is getting the answer to ourselves. Telling it to others is secondary. Let us think about that later, there will be plenty of time. First let us ourselves find the answer. To begin with, let us forget about others. Let us stop thinking that we will be the saviors of the suffering mankind by providing some answers. That kind of thoughts is itself a roadblock.

The derivation methodology is Jnana Yoga. Again, as usual, before going into the Dos I want to list some disruptions – Don’ts - in this path. There is a strong tendency in all of us to get into unending and fruitless discussions in the name of spirituality. “What happens to Atma after I die?”, “What is meant by Prana? Does Prana go with the Atma?”, “How Punya and Papa gets stored and where?”. This is a sample set of childish questions that a group of people sit and discuss in the name of spirituality. When you get a chance (I pray that you won’t) to witness such arguments, you just make a note of the beginning of the discussion and then the end of the discussion. You will notice that there will not even be a speck of improvement in anybody’s ideas. All will be braying like donkeys the same thing again and again. All will be talking as if ‘Atma’ is their neighbor and they meet it everyday. They have already decided that they know Atma, Prana etc. Then how can we expect any result out of such discussions? All proud scientific minds of 21^st century!

Vivekananda promptly suggests us all to keep out of all such purposeless talks. Jnana Yoga is not arguing with others. It is arguments with our own self, by taking necessary help from the scriptures, but more importantly from our own experiences. There is another disrupting tendency - to get lost in scriptures and their technical terms. We have to remember one thing always – scriptures (especially Upanishads and the Gita) are the records of experiences. So, the experiences are to be experienced, not to be made a subject of theoretical learning. Sticking to the Samskrita’s technical jargon, mugging up verses to showoff is all childish. Shankaracharya makes fun of this type of empty scholarliness at several places in his works.

Mind cannot leave any item hanging without being categorized systematically. Each thought, each idea has to be categorized, just as how data is categorized into tables in databases. We say we have understood the idea when mind has put the idea into a labeled box. For e.g. I say I understand what is red, because it has been categorized under the heading ‘color’. But the fact is that we neither know what is Red nor do we know what is color. They are just categories and data. No one knows what is the source of color and why there is color. You may say color is because of light, wavelength blah blah. Well, even I have studied all that and that is exactly my question – why is there color in light? And what is meant by color? What is meant by mass? Why mass has gravity pulling towards the center? No answers. We say we have understood, only because we have labeled them and kept it in systematized boxes. Absolute meaning is not known for anything.

When a new idea is formed, immediately mind will try to fit it into already available categories in it. When it fails to do so, it creates a new category and simply keeps it there. The new category may even be something like ‘Miscellaneous’ or ‘Unknown’. But the mind is happy when it puts the new idea into a labeled box. And we begin to believe that the idea is understood. And that is why people talk as if Atma is their neighbor, and Prana their friend. They have read the words in some books, they have categorized and labeled them in their minds, and hence believe that they know it. Ignorance is bliss!

A Jnana Yogi cannot afford to do this blunder. Shake the mind from its slumber. Push the dummy logic out of its comfort zone. Because it has answered nothing in the name of science. It has only hid the truth from us by giving dummy answers. Just look at the dictionary – “Mass is quantity of matter” and “Matter is that which possesses rest mass”. A child may sometimes notice this blunder and question this. But we just say “Mass is mass. What is there to ask?”. Because we don’t even think that it is unknown. Actually the child is a true Jnana Yogi. But soon the child gets used to the adults’ answers, labels it under some category of the mind, and when it grows up it continues the great legacy of it’s elders!

Think, think and think continuously. Shake the mind and fail the dummy logic. You can take ANY thing you want and try to go to it’s roots. Today, science has done one favor. It has provided all the necessary information for us to surely know that we do not know the roots. What mass could be? What electrical charge could be? What space and time could be? Take anything. Question yourself and wonder at it ceaselessly. If it is easy for you, you may directly begin to analyze ‘What Am I?’. Swami Vivekananda may help with his Jnana Yoga lectures. Not that you will get an answer in the traditional way. But because when you wonder with intense curiosity, when you rid yourself of all the dummy answers, eventually the mind goes blank momentarily. And you will feel some strange happiness. On such occasions, you spontaneously meditate! Just look at two samples below:

We say the universe is a result of a big bang. Because scientists noticed that all heavenly bodies are constantly moving away from each other – an expansion. So, at one point in time, the entire universe must have been collapsed at one point – a state of singularity. No space, no time. (Try to imagine and feel the kick). And then, from a point of singularity there was a blast – space and time came into picture. And they say space is continuously expanding like a balloon. Today, we say that the universe is vast, unimaginable etc. Now, just look at the following simple argument. If space itself was created during big bang, if it is space itself that is constantly expanding, then what is outside the big bang balloon? Is there an outside for it? If there is no outside for it, then, relative to what is it big? Big, small is always relative. If there is nothing outside, then what are we comparing it against to say that it is big?

Suppose you are dreaming. How big is the dream? Is there a boundary for the dream space? What is outside the dream space? Before the dream began and after the dream ends, don’t you exist as pure singularity of deep sleep?

This way, when we argue and fail logic, we are actually transcending logic. The sharp arrows of discrimination start piercing the thick skins of slumber and the blazing core slowly becomes visible. Momentarily my mind hangs, and I become aware of true ‘I Am’. All planets vanish for a moment and as a result the self-luminous sun becomes aware of himself. Else he is always busy looking at tiny and infinitesimal planets revolving around him – thoughts.

The above is only a preliminary step. When you repeat this several times, the sun becomes aware of himself, although momentarily, again and again. As a result, without our attention, the categorized but dummy answer ‘I am this body’ starts trembling from its roots. The relationship of this answer with it’s source question ‘Who Am I?’ weakens. And when that happens, the question ‘Who Am I?’ is left hanging in your mind without an answer (no labeled box to hold it, as explained before). So one day, the question ‘Who Am I?’ fires up from within you, and then the powerful current of Self-Enquiry will drag you into it. Then you will no more have to think of space, time etc. ‘Who Am I?’ alone will itself start giving you the blankness and bliss.

Very important note – if you already have the question ‘Who Am I?’ coming up in you, this article is unnecessary for you!