Seeker: I know awareness, it is the imprint left upon the “I”, the end result of a perception collected via a sense.
If “I” exist then the primary imprint, the primary awareness is the sensation to exist paired with the sense to have not existed prior. And it’s an internal sense.
Vedanta: Who knows awareness? If there is only awareness, which is the meaning of “non-dual,’ who but awareness “knows” awareness? But to say awareness knows awareness is meaningless. Awareness just is. It is yourself. I think you should know that the “I” is awareness, which means that nothing can leave an imprint on it. If something other than awareness could leave an imprint awareness would not be free. But we know that awareness is the only free thing…which is not a “thing”… there is.
The awareness that you know is a “secondary” awareness, the reflection of awareness in the human mind. It is affected…imprinted to use your term…by sense perceptions. Sense perceptions become thoughts in the mind. It is affected by emotions, memories, desires, fears, etc.
You are right, there is a primary awareness, but it is pure original unborn existence shining as whole and complete awareness. You are close when you say it is the “sensation to exist,” but it is more than a sensation, which Ramana called the “I sense.” It is the universal “I”, existence shining as awareness. You, awareness, are not a sensation, you experience sensations. So, you cannot be a sensation.
Nothing precedes you, awareness, the universal I. You are aware of what happened to your “I sense,” you are aware while things happen, and you are a aware when something stops happening and something else starts happening. I think your phrase “not existed prior” actually means that nothing existed prior to you, awareness, which is true.
To say nothing precedes you means that you were never born. If you were never born you never die. You…awareness… are free of birth and death.
I think we are saying the same thing, but the way you express it is confusing. The words above are not my words, although they reflect my knowledge of myself as awareness. Talking about awareness is very difficult because it is not like anything we know with the senses. Over the centuries the knowledge of existence shining as awareness accumulated and was refined by great sages who knew awareness as their own innermost self. So we have today a very precise language…Vedanta…to express our knowledge of both What we are…ever-free awareness…and who we are…affected reflected awareness. The fact that I use a time-tested language accounts for the fact that thousands of people read my posts, visit my website, study my books and watch my videos and attend my talks world wide. If I just used my own words probably nobody would listen.
