Dear Ram,
The more I reflect on the camera and the picture metaphor, I realize, I am both! There is no other way. Moonlight is there because of sunlight and the reflective material. No moon, no moonlight. It makes no difference to sunlight which is still present.
Mind with its “moods” (gunas) are reflectors of the light of knowing. I, the supreme principle, can’t even claim to be a knowing principle as that implies the presence something other than me to be known. That is why I asked you last week whether the presence or absence of mind (sattvic or not, contemplating or not) had any bearing on me, existence/awareness.
This brings up the fact that there is no point of view in awareness/existence, but all apparent points of views are mine. I don’t need to claim anything.Can you reflect on this please, perhaps in the satsang today or later via email?
Ram: Yes, it is a good topic for the Sunday night satsang. The answer is an emphatic YES! Now you’re talking. No claiming is necessary. Only knowledge is required. So, if you were inclined to speak about yourself you would say, “I am” backed by the following knowledge.
”There is no sun and no moon, no Self and no Not-Self. These ideas are teaching tools. There is just me, the silent knower of both. Yes, I am both in so far as they exist, but I am not them. If “I am not them,” is not included, it may mean that you think there is an actual connection between the sun and the moon, the Self and the subtle body, the non-eternal jiva. The unborn sun was there before the moon and it will keep shining when the moon is gone. It is eternal and independent. Even to say it is independent implies dependency. All you can say is “I am (existence shining as whole and complete unborn consciousness). “There is nothing else.”
Good for you, Peter. Perseverance furthers.
Love,
Ram
