The space within the pot, is known by its shape & volume and appears to have a separate identity. When the pot breaks, the space within, merges with the space outside, losing its identity.
- The space within, was never spearate from the space outside.
- The identity was apparent, and the it was a superimposed concept, existing only in the minds of the perceived.
- Once the pot breaks, the so-called identity is lost for ever, never to return.
- The separate space within, such an entity was never born, cannot be reborn, and never existed even.
- Even if a similar pot is reconstructed with all the features, the space within can never claim to have the identity of the old pot.
- This is the case of our identity too.
- The entity, the so-called “you” cannot be born, and never be reborn.
- All fanciful concepts of spirituality, progress, rebirth and karma for such an entity have sprouted from ignorance and propagated by religion.
If a genius scientist made an exact clone of you, including all your memories and emotions, would that be you?
If not, then who are you?
Manmohan Sethumadhavan
The problem apparently is about 'progress'. Now, who is to make the progress, and progress towards what? I have said this repeatedly and untiringly that you are the Conscious Presence, the animating consciousness which gives sentience to phenomenal objects; that you are not a phenomenal object, which is merely an appearance in the consciousness of those who perceive it. How can an 'appearance' make any 'progress' towards any objective? Now, instead of letting this basic apperception impregnate your very being, what you do is to accept it merely as an ideological thesis and ask the question. How can a conceptual appearance know whether it is making any conceptual progress towards its conceptual liberation? - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Every atom in this world, be it of gold or iron, carbon or oxygen – is made up of the same particles. The difference is only in their numbers. The fundamental building blocks of all materials in this world are the same. The difference is only when it is interpreted in your mind. Does this world exist exactly as you perceive? Where do you figure in this? And who are you?
What is born, the objective body, will, in due course, die; thereafter it will be dissolved, i.e., irrevocably annihilated. The life-force will leave the body and mingle with the air outside. The objective part of what was once a sentient being will be destroyed, never to be re-born as the same body. And consciousness is not an object, not a "thing" at all. Therefore, consciousness, as something non-objective, cannot be born, cannot die and certainly cannot be re-born.
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
● I have a gold coin. I melt it and make a ring.
● Though the gold has not changed, will it now have any of the features of the coin?
● If the coin was antique, will the ring also be antique?
● The coin - the name and form is the identity superimposed on the gold.
● Will it be known as the rebirth of the coin? The coin is no more.
● The coin - the name and form - is irretrievably lost.
● This is the case of your identity too. It is a superimposed concept.
● It is not born, and cannot be re-born.
Indeed there is no such thing as "enlightenment". The apperception of this fact is itself enlightenment!
All paths lead to unreality. Paths are creations within the scope of knowledge. Therefore, paths and movements cannot transport you into Reality, because their function is to enmesh you within the dimension of knowledge, while the Reality prevails prior to it.
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
If a car hits and kills a person, will the car have Karma ? How is it different in your case? How can a person be responsible for its destiny on which it does not have any control?
"Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. Even destiny is but an idea. Words can be put together in so many ways! Statements can differ, but do they make any change in the actual? There are so many theories devised for explaining things - all are plausible, none is true." - Nisargadatta Maharaj
I don't believe in Spiderman & Batman. Am I an atheist? If you are an atheist, because you disbelieve in fictional characters, you are as immature and blind as believers. A relative absence affirms its absolute presence. Belief and disbelief are both ideas in your mind.
The real is beyond the mind. Beyond both - the known and the unknown, being and non-being. - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
