01:03 pm - The Atman Does Exist

The Atman is not a sense of identity. It is not the ego. It is not composed of thoughts. The Atman is what we really are. We have to use these words to speak, but in reality the Atman is not a person or an identity. The Atman is a drop of the ocean of God, it is consciousness itself.



Just as many things appear on the surface of the mirror, without the mirror changing or becoming involved, so too the various lives of beings reflect in the clarity of the Atman. What lives and dies is not the true Self, it is just a series of dreams. The false self is an identity, an ego, a collaboration of thoughts. The true self is not an identity, it is not composed of thoughts or ego. Do not get confused with the word "self". The Atman is simply pure consciousness.



Just as many different movies are played on a cinema screen, without the screen itself being changed, so the Atman abides forever in its deathless state.



Just as the ocean and a drop of the ocean are not separate, so too Brahma and Atman are not separate. Without the deathless, creative force of Brahma, the next moment could not come into being.



Buddha's view on cause and effect is impossible. In Buddha's view, there is nothing that continues from one moment to the next. The first moment of an apple must cease, to give rise to the second moment of an apple. Since there is change, the first moment of the apple cannot remain. This is Buddha's view and it is the truth. The problem arises here: if the first moment of the apple has ceased before the next moment arises, from where does the second moment of apple arise, since the first moment of apple has already ceased?



If we believe the Buddha, we cannot say that the second moment of apple arose from consciousness, because the first moment of consciousness that perceived the first moment of apple has also ceased. Absolutely everything that existed in that first moment has ceased, according to Buddha, so from where does everything in the second moment arise? Since everything has ceased, from where can everything arise again?



So you see, this view of Buddha's is ridiculous. I have just proven the Buddha wrong! AHA! In reality, the knowing, the consciousness, the Atman, does not cease from moment to moment, but abides forever. But "forever" is a misleading concept. "Time" is just a creation of the thinking mind. In reality there is only now. So the Atman is not really abiding forever, it is just abiding here and now, which is all there is.



We are often taught that God created the world at the beginning of time, but our understanding of this is not correct. God continues to create everything right now, because time is not real. There is only now, so that is when God creates existence. Right now is the beginning, middle, and end of time. Of course, from the point of view of object coming and going, we can measure change and call it time, but from the point of view of the Atman, there is no change, so there is no time. It is timeless.



Perhaps now you are angry and ready to defend your Buddhist views, but please reflect on this poem first by Rumi, which itself can trigger the enlightenment process:



My Soul is from Elsewhere



All day I think about it,

then at night I say it.

Where did I come from, and

What am I supposed to be doing?



My soul is from elsewhere,

I’m sure of that,

and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.

When I get back around to that place,

I will be completely sober.

I’m like a bird from another continent,

sitting in this aviary.

The day is coming when I fly off,

but who is it now in my ear,

who hears my voice?

Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes?



Rumi



--This last part I have put in bold is a koan, to be taken deep into meditation.

