The more I think about it the more I realize that this quest to “improve oneself” or “make oneself worthy of or pure enough” to realize the self/truth, is a false start and attempt.
All those attempts are attempts to refine one’s personality or mind.
But, the mind cannot know, AND the mind NEED NOT be in a certain state for “one” to realize the truth, although there is a slight modification to that which I will make below in the end.
See, if Truth/Consciousness is ALL THERE IS, right now when the mind is operating under so-called delusion that it in combination with the body exists as a separate entity, it IS THE TRUTH / CONSCIOUSNESS that is appearing so, which anyway the name-and-form analysis makes clear.
Then, what is the entity that is thinking it is NOW IGNORANT and has to “realize” the truth.
And, what is that Truth?
The Truth is Consciounsess (aka Brahman).
Right now are we NOT Conscious?
Do we not “know” the Consciousness operating in us right now, even when we are thinking or feeling or laughing or crying?
We do KNOW it is there, otherwise how can we “know” anything.
We do “know” all of our past thoughts, feelings and deeds, we do know what thoughts and feelings are arising in this moment, we do know what our mind is planning or anticipating in the future, we do know how our body is feeling, whether tired or at rest.
Perhaps the only mistake we make is that though we may admit yes “I” know all those things, we think that “I” is the mind.
It is the mind that “knows” what we are thinking and feeling, is what we think.
But how can that be because mind is NOTHING BUT a stream of thoughts and feelings and not some substance or entity that is “doing” the thinking and feeling.
Has anyone found a mind apart from thoughts and feelings?
Do not reify the mind.
So, since one thought and feeling cannot “know” about other thoughts and feelings because that “seeming knowledge” itself appears as another thought, and who is cognizing that “thought” about the past or future or present?
Obviously Consciousness.
So, now, we began by saying the Truth or Reality is Consciousness, and we are saying IT is that which “knows” anything.
But we are claiming we do “know”.
So that “I” that knows it knows cannot be anything other than Consciousness.
So, you are that Consciousness.
That is the answer to the “Who Am I?” question.
Now, how come we still feel the “need” to undertake spiritual sadhana despite undertsanding as we did above that we are already That (Tat Tvam Asi, Aham Brahmasmi)?
That is because we “think” we have to get at the truth with our mind and whatever else we think we are, it is “we” who need to get enlightened, etc.
The one thinking so is the mind in association with the reflected consciousness (the chidabhasa) or the jiva or jivatma.
But, in addition to the mind and body we saw that Consciousness is also there in us and as us.
So, we seem to to be tripartite — Body, Mind and Consciousness.
But, we do not feel identified with Consciousness as being us but rather we keep thinking that we are the body-mind.
As long as we think we are merely and only the body-mind, then we will keep thinking we are unenlightened, there is something called Consciousness that we need to get at.
But, if you understand the model presented above, you know that that very Consciousness we are seeking is also us right now, and paradoxically without that Consciounsess being us, our body-mind cannot undertake any spiritual practices because without Consciousness the body-mind cannot exist (goes back to name-and-form analysis).
So, then we being Consciousness ALREADY, where is the MISTAKE occuring?
There is ONLY ONE AND ONLY ONE MISTAKE OR IGNORANCE — that is, our ATTENTION is now on the body-mind, and NOT on Consciousness, which gives rise to that strong identity with body-mind being us.
So, the ONLY thing we need to do is GENTLY shift our attention from body-mind to Consciousness that is already shining within us and as us, which is the God principle or Brahman in us.
Just that resting one’s attention on Consciousness is what is needed.
The longer we do that, the more attenuated becomes this habitual identification with body-mind and slowly the understanding will arise in us that the body-mind is just an appearance or a name-and-form of our own Consciounsess, and once that happens that is the enlightenment where the unreality of the body-mind and the world is recognized, and so suffering ends because if the world is unreal then all the suffering it contains or can give one is also unreal.
After all, as long as one’s attention is on the pot (body-mind) one sort of misses the clay (Consciousness/Brahman).
How to shift the attention?
Understanding thoroughly the above theoretical model helps one to do that, maybe gradually at first but kind of intensely and explosively later.
The caveat I said in the beginning that I will mention is that unless some traditional spiritual reading, thinking, understanding and purification has been gone through, one will neither understand/accept the above model, nor will one find any value in doing so because one’s focus will be totally on fulfilling one’s desires and that requires the strong identity with body-mind and in its reality as being the identity of the one trying to fulfill those desires, so some initial sadhana will make the mind subtle enough and pure enough for it to acquire the required intellectual capacity to figure out the above things correctly.
Now, it is up to the reader of this to figure out for themselves what they want to do.
Know Thyself 