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existence on the basis of scriptural knowledge. They base their solutions on the precision of logical processes. They think they can realise the nature of consciousness through philosophical literature. What a pitiable paradox that on the one hand the nature of consciousness is propounded emphatically to be beyond logic, literature and language, while on the other hand, they want to realise it through these very instruments. The one and the only way to realise the nature of consciousness is through personal experience. Without experience, no one can comprehendit. Scriptures and philosophical literature are expressed in language. Language is very helpful for conveying useful and important information, but whoever tries to communicate experiences through it is very much mistaken. All that any language can do is to talk about an experience, but description of an experience is not the experience itself. It is only talk about it. Whenever anyone did have the experience after learning from books, the experience came from himself and not from the books. The process is to purify the perceptive competence and raise the level of consciousness. For a practitioner, striving for a personal experience is an inherent part of the process; hence, it is incumbent upon him to do so. He must not depend too much on books and beliefs, but on himself. This does not mean that we ignore or forget what we already know from books. It means that the practitioner must himself realise his own real SELF; the inspiration must come from within.
Scriptures are emphatic about the reality of the consiousness. But again, what they say is lingual expression about truth, a belief or faith. When, as a result of regular meditational practice, one becomes enlightened by insight, and when he is face to face with his real SELF, he knows thai it is real. Then, he not only knows but is aware of his real SELF. It is the Truth itself-the Truth of experience, and it can be realised only by practice of meditation. There is no other means which can elevate one from a lingual truth to the Truth of experience.
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