Consciousness Untainted

Sage Vasishtha

Consciousness free from the limitations of the mind is known as the inner intelligence: it is the essential nature of no-mind, and therefore it is not tainted by the impurities of concepts and percepts. That is the reality, that is supreme auspiciousness, that is the state known as the supreme self, that is omniscience - and that vision is not had when the wicked mind functions. Where there is mind, there flourish hopes and desires, and there arise the experiences of pain and pleasure. The consciousness which has been awakened to the truth does not fall into concepts and percepts: therefore, even though it seems to undergo various psychological experiences, it does not give rise to the world illusion and the cycle of world appearance.

In the case of those who have been awakened through the study of scriptures, company of holy men and unceasing an vigilant practice of truth, their consciousness has reached the pure state of non-objectiveness. Hence, one should forcefully uplift one's mind from the state of ignorance and vacillation and apply it to the study of scriptures and to the company of holy sages.

The self alone is the sole aid for the realization of the supreme self or the infinite consciousness. It is one's own self that strives to abandon one's own sorrow; and for this the realization of one's own self by oneself is the only course.