Science of Knowledge & Wisdom

Amana is a Sanskrit term which means ‘without mind’. Amanaskata is a condition where there is no mind. It is mindlessness. This is the state in which jivanmuktas or liberated beings exist. Who is a Jivanmukta:   A Jivanmukta’s state* is described in laudatory and eulogizing terms in all vedic scriptures.  [* :  Special Note on the word “State”:  We normally use this word to describe a phase or a transitory condition. It implicitly indicates that there are other states in which an entity could exist. But this is not the sense we use the word here. What we try to convey is the ‘disposition’, natural isness of Jivanmukta after one achieves ‘realization’. So the ‘state’ of Jivanmukta is not something that comes and goes. As per Advaita Vedanta, this state is always there; other states, conditions may superimpose on that veiling it, making it invisible. For lack of a better word, we shall continue to use ‘state’ to denote the position of a Jivanmukta in order...

Brahma Jnana: Brahma means totality. What does sampoorna Brahma mean? Sampoorna means everything; you may drink a glass of water, but sampoorna refers to all the water in all the seas, ponds, lakes and wells in the world. You have taken only a glass out of all the water that exists in the world. There was another Brahma jnani born in the last century in India: Ramana Maharshi. This south Indian boy had a strange experience one day – he felt as if he was dying. He lay down, but now a question appeared in his mind: ‘If I am dying, then who is the one watching me die? I am watching me die. How can it be that the one who is dying and the one who is watching are one and the same? No, they must be two different entities.’ Therefore, at the age of 12, he left his home and travelled to a sacred place in south India known as Tiruvannamalai. He lived there all his life. He did not have a guru and would not make disciples. He would ask only one thing of those who came to him: “Think ‘W...

From The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Question : What is Reality? Sri Ramana Maharshi : Reality must be always real. It is not with forms and names. That which underlies these is the Reality. It underlies limitations, being itself limitless. It is not bound. It underlies unrealities, itself being real. Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech. It is beyond the expressions ‘existence, non-existence’, etc. The reality which is the mere consciousness that remains when ignorance is destroyed along with knowledge of objects, alone is the Self (Atma). In that Brahma-swarupa (real form of Brahman), which is abundant Self-awareness, there is not the least ignorance. The reality which shines fully, without misery and without a body, not only when the world is known but also when the world is not known, is your real form (nija-swarupa). The radiance of consciousness-bliss, in the form of one awareness shining equally within and without, is the supre...