| abstract | - Man without knowledge wanders around, weeping and crying out in various ways, but God does not meet them. The body is tied up with emotional attachment, disease and sorrow, and so it is lured into countless reincarnations (sggs 532). Everything exists in the Infinite Consciousness, Waheguru. This undivided Consciousness exists in all, within and without. This Pure Awareness is Unchanging, Timeless, Fathomless, Sunn (Spiritual Silence), Sahaj (natural state of Being), Peace, and Self-illumined (Saibhang). We are the True Image (Joti Svaroop) of this Undivided Consciousness. Those who know this Supreme Truth, the substratum of everything in the universe, know everything. Those who don't, know nothing at all even though they may be most learned. Soham aap pachhaneeai Shabad bhed pateeaai: Recognize within that "He is me"; who knows this secret through the Shabad is satisfied (sggs 60). Brahm giaani aap Nirankaar: Man with the knowledge of God (Brahm Giaani) is himself the Formless God (sggs 273). Just as the ocean rises up as waves, the consciousness rises up in us as the sense of "I" from the effort of false ego. Our mind's defects (restlessness, ignorance and inner "filth") creates division and gives rise to name and form, which hide the Reality. When this false "I" (ego mind) is removed by removing attachment to any action, thought, and object, then only the real "I" (the true Self) is realized; the substratum in which everything moves. When this Self Knowledge (Aatam Gian) dawns upon us, all notions such as ignorance, knowledge, bondage, liberation, pain, joy, birth, death, action, latent tendencies, memory, mind, intelligent, ego, Jeeva (individualized consciousness), etc., cease to be. All wandering of the instinctive mind is nothing but movement of the physical ego. Hayumai meraa bharmai sansaar: The world wanders in ego and selfhood (sggs 841). Mind constantly swings between the Reality (Consciousness) and illusion (inertness). When the mind contemplates the inert objects for sometime, it assumes their characteristic of inertness. This mental division occurs when the Infinite Consciousness becomes the object of the mind. This is to say that all false concepts arise when the Cosmic Spirit due to self-forgetfulness views itself as the object of perception. Giaan vihoonee bhavai sabaaee: Without the Divine Knowlege, the entire world wanders about (sggs 1034). Parmesar te bhulliyaan viaapan saabhe rog. Vemukh hoye Ram te lagan janam vijog: Forgetting the Transcendent Being, all sorts of illnesses (mental, physical, spiritual, etc.) are contracted. Those who turn their backs on God will be separated from Him and consigned to repeated reincarnation (sggs 135). The Gurbani (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS) reminds us that the mind is made in the Image of the Infinite Consciousness. What it means is that the mind in its Pure state is a Cosmic Mind. If Pure Consciousness is the Essential Nature of the mind, then how does it fall into the dark well of ignorance? Iyu kahe Nanak man tu jot saroop hai apnaa mool pashaan: Thus says Nanak: O my mind, you are That — the true image of the Divine Light — know your Reality (sggs 441). The latent tendencies and memories, or the impressions of past actions (Karma) create movement or disturbance in the individualized consciousness. In this agitated state, it views diversity and identifies objects as such. As movement in the ocean causes countless waves, similarly, the restlessness in the consciousness creates countless manifestations such as mind, intellect, ego, memory, latent tendencies, sensations, feelings, thoughts, action (Karma) followed by its fruits, and so on. Karnee kaagad man masvaan buraa bhalaa dui lekh pae. Jiyu jiyu kirat chalaae tiyu chaleeai tayu gun naahee ant hare: Actions are the paper, and the mind is the ink; good and bad are both recorded upon it. As their past actions drive them, so are mortals driven. There is no end to Your Glorious Virtues, Lord (sggs 990). By moving in the wrong direction towards self-forgetfulness and deeper involvement in false fancies, the consciousness becomes impure or conditioned. Thus, veiled by the ignorance of its Eternal Nature, which is Truth-Knowledge-Bliss, it creates confusion between reality and world-appearance called Maya (illusion). All false notions are the product of such deluded mind. They do not exist any more than water exists in the mirage! Mrig trishnaa jiyu jag rachnaa yah dekhahu ridai bichaar: The created world is like an illusion, a mirage — see this, and reflect upon it in your mind (sggs 537). Liquor is able to make one see all sorts of phantoms in the empty sky. Similarly, the deluded mind is able to make one see diversity in the unity. Just as a drunkard person sees objects moving, the ignorant one sees movement in this world. Thus, the mind is able to veil the All-pervading, Pure, Eternal and Infinite Consciousness, making us confuse it with this inert physical body. Maadhve kiya kaheeyai bhram aisaa. Jaisa maaneeyai hoe na taisaa: O Lord, what can I say about this illusion; what we deem a thing to be, in reality, it is not like that (sggs 658). It is clear that this world-appearance is nothing but the play of the mind. The deluded mind veils the real nature of the Self and creates an illusory appearance. For example, in the moonless night, the impure mind creates an illusory appearance of a ghost in the pole, and a snake in the rope. Scriptures reveal to us that annihilation or destruction (purification) of the false mind is must for attaining oneness with the Spirit within. This mind does not cease to be until it is burnt in the fire of Self-knowledge. Na man marai na Maya marai: Maya can not be conquered without annihilation of the mind (sggs 1342). Nanak Gurmukh gian praapat hovai timar agian andher chukaayaa: O Nanak, by becoming a Gurmukh, attains spiritual wisdom. The pitch-black darkness of ignorance will be dispelled (sggs 512). Kaadi kharrag gur giaan karaaraa bikh shedi shedi rasu peejai: Drawing out the mighty sword of the God's spiritual wisdom, I slaughter and kill the poisonous snake (of Maya's delusion), and drink in the Sweet Nectar of Divine Name (sggs 1324). Giaan ka badhaaa man rahai: The mind is restrained by spiritual wisdom (sggs 469). Giaan vihoonee pir muteeaa piram na paayaa jaae: Those who are utterly lacking in spiritual wisdom do not realize God; they cannot obtain Divine Love (sggs 38). Upon eradicating its defects (Self-knowledge or Aatm-Gian), the mind again sees itself as Pure, Universal Consciousness. Upon realizing this Original Nature, all its false manifestations cease to be. Only the Infinite Consciousness remains. The mind of a noble or an Enlightened Man does not move from this reality. Scriptures roar that such man alone is a human being, the others are just worms, and animals. Purakh mahi naar naar mahi purkhaa boojhahu brahm giaanee...: The female is in the male, and the male is in the female. Understand this, O God-realized being! The meditation is in God's love, and His knowledge is in meditation. Become Gurmukh (Self-realized), and speak the Unspoken Speech. The Light is in the mind, and the mind is in the Light (sggs 879). Vistaa ke keere pavahi vich vistaa se vistaa maahi samaae: They (in love of duality) are worms in the filth of manure. They fall into manure, and into manure they are absorbed (sggs 28).
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