An esoteric perspective: I, me, myself, who?

Jan 8, 2010, 12.00am IST
DEEPAK RANADE.

The fundamental constituent of the consciousness construct is ‘am-ness’. It is the inconspicuous motor that powers consciousness. It is too intangible to comprehend but is the substratum of our ‘being-ness’. Intellect, mind and thoughts are derivatives of this primordial being-ness.


Being-ness is a priori and precludes any acquired knowledge or conditioning. The am-ness drives awareness and animates the Self. The Self, veiled by identity and ego, is oblivious to this am-ness, which is its very source. It merges into the form, giving the form an illusion of control and doer-ship. Am-ness is in all life forms.
Fighting to sustain am-ness is one of the most primeval instincts. But then this fight for survival is by, of and for the form. Not for the am-ness that vitalises the form. To remain in the state of being-ness is meditation. To dwell in the am-ness unadulterated by any form, identity, ego or desire is not easy. Lapsing into illusions created by the mind is inevitable. Illusion is a sensory ‘warp’. Creation is an illusion that is spun as a web by the mind and intellect on the substrate of ‘being’.


It is a film running on the screen of am-ness. Reverting to the state of being-ness requires effort. To know that pure being-ness is the nature of the true Self is knowledge and realisation. The falsely identified self constantly needs to reaffirm itself through gratification by sensory stimulation. Am-ness does not seek any gratification or reaffirmation since it is unidentified being-ness.


Am-ness is the precursor of the mind and intellect. It is pure consciousness. It is unaffected by time and form. Pure consciousness will remain eternally even after the temporary form is extinguished. It is just that it will become impersonalised. Am-ness is also called the soul or atman. Am-ness will remain undifferentiated consciousness until it inhabits a mind-body form, somewhat like the undifferentiated primal cell wherein life begins.


The single celled zygote, the first cell, has the ability to differentiate into any cell of the body. A variety of cells and tissues each functioning autonomically eventually has not even a remote semblance to the original, each still carrying the torch of am-ness that was lit by the initial flame of life.
To identify with am-ness, one has to remove all the veils one has acquired in the course of time – name, identity, beliefs, concepts and “knowledge”. Meditation serves to gradually dissolve all illusion and at the end just leaves a residual am-ness that is the state of Brahmn. All identities, objects and concepts are time-bound and are mere mirages. They are fleeting and temporary.


Am-ness is self-effacing; it is unidentifiable in the form. It is beyond concept. The mind cannot conceive its predecessor. Am-ness is sookshma or intangible. The mind works in the realm of the sthoola , or the tangible. Intelligence and thought tend to abjectly deny the intangible. These derivatives then detach from the stalk of their origin and become autonomous.


This autonomy manifests as ego and identity. These are all pseudo-entities, null and void in the absence of am-ness that is the source as well as object of Creation.
The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon. E-mail: deepakranade@hotmail.com. Blog: www.neuroconsciousness@blogspot.com