ISJS Transactions 2018 07 To 09 Vol 02 No 03

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 55

46 ISJS-Transactions, Vol.2, No.3, Jul-Sep, 2018
literally means "aloneness" i.e. detachment from all other connections. It is a metaphor for pure being, for residing in the Self. It also refers to the Self as pure awareness and the Self ability to be aware of fluctuations of the mind without becoming identified with them. This is what is called witnessing. Shrimad Rajchandra describes it in very simple terms. He says, "When there prevails uninterrupted experience of one's nature exclusively, it is termed as omniscience, which is liberation despite embodiment." In such a state the aspirant has the absolute and incessant knowledge of the nature of the Self. It is free from all illusions and limitations. It is ever irreducible and indestructible and so it is called absolute knowledge. The soul with the absolute knowledge experiences highest liberation though it is embodied. In brief, non-attachment brings liberation or salvation. Even when the destructive actions (ghātikarma) of a released living soul are destroyed his non-destructive actions (aghātīkarma) still remain and so he continues to live. Inspite of his bodily life he is just like a totally liberated master self. Such living souls are Gods in living bodies.
We can thus understand that the removal of the fluctuations of the mind is not accomplished by will and subtle force. It is ultimately accomplished by removing identifications and by dissolving the mind into the self, but in order to accomplish this dissolution, the mind must first be sättvika. What, then, is a sāttvika mind? It is a mind longing for wisdom, and is happy, lucid and healthy. But also it is a mind without fluctuations; thus we come full circle back to Patañjali's initial definition of yoga as removal of the fluctuations of the mind. In this way we can say that yoga is merging in the self, removal of identifications and removal of fluctuations of the mind.
For e.g. Mercury is a slippery, silvery liquid. If you control it, you can make many uses of it; but if you do not know how to control it, it will slip through your fingers. The mind is like mercury-it is beautiful and luminescent, and it is very useful. It can bring the best result if you control it, but one must learn to bring the mind to calmness and one pointedness.
Conclusion
The process or path of self-realization is a stepwise process. By following the process, one can move forward from a circular route to an inner route. That's where one starts selfobservation. He is ready for the journey from non-self to self. Those steps are: 1. Preparatory stage, 2. Witnessing state, 3.Self-realization- pure being.
Preparatory stage: In self-observation the subject objectifies itself (looks at itself) and this is something everybody can do. Practicing "being in the now" is an attempt to reach this temporary witnessing.
The witnessing state: It is possible to reach a state of freedom from identification with the "I", where the identification-mechanism is crushed, yet you are not self-realized. This is the witnessing-state. It is the 'I AM-ness' state, where one knows oneself to be nobody, but the most subtle I-ness has not been dissolved. It is easy to believe this state is self-realization, since there are no identifications, one witnesses everything, and one has realized oneself as nothing (nobody). But this state is characterized by a duality between self-as-nobody and everything else. This I-ness is the root of ignorance.
Self-realization (Pure Being): Self-realization is a state of total freedom from the small I where even the primal I-ness has gone (and the witness in witnessing is gone). We call this stage self-realization because here the I-ness and the identification mechanism which