Peace: Pain and Pleasure Are One

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: How do you come to know a state of pure being which is neither conscious nor unconscious? All knowledge is in consciousness only. There may be such a state as the abeyance of the mind. Does consciousness then appear as the witness?

The witness only registers events. In the abeyance of the mind even the sense I AM dissolves. There is no I AM without the mind.

Without the mind means without thoughts. I AM as a thought subsides. I AM the sense of being remains.

All experience subsides with the mind. Without the mind there can be no experiencer nor experience.

Does not the witness remain?

The witness merely registers the presence or absence of experience. It is not an experience by itself, but it becomes an experience when the thought 'I am the witness' arises.

All I know is that sometimes the mind works and sometimes it stops. The experience of mental silence I call the abeyance of the mind.

Call it silence or void or abeyance, the fact is that the three - experiencer, experiencing, experience - are not. In witnessing, in awareness, self-consciousness, the sense of being this or that, is not.

As a state of unconsciousness?

With reference to anything, it is the opposite. It is also between and beyond all opposites. It is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, nor midway, nor beyond the two. It is by itself, not with reference to anything which may be called experience or its absence.

How strange! You speak of it as if it were an experience.

When I think of it, it becomes an experience.

Like the invisible light, intercepted by a flower, becoming color?

Yes, you may say so. It is in the color but not the color.

The same old four-fold negation of Nagarjuna - neither this nor that, nor both, nor either. My mind reels!

Your difficulty stems from the idea that reality is a state of consciousness, one among many. You tend to say, 'This is real, that is not real. And this is partly real, partly unreal', as if reality were an attribute or quality to have in varying measures.

Let me put it differently. after all, consciousness becomes a problem only when it is painful. An ever-blissful state does not give rise to questions. We find all consciousness to be a mixture of the pleasant and the painful. Why?

All consciousness is limited and therefore painful. At the root of consciousness lies desire, the urge to experience.

Do you mean to say that without desire there can be no consciousness? And what is the advantage of being unconscious? If I have to forego pleasure for the freedom from pain, I better keep both.

Beyond pain and pleasure there is bliss.

Unconscious bliss, of what use is it?

Neither conscious nor unconscious. Real.

What is your objection to consciousness?

It is a burden. Body means burden. Sensations, desires, thoughts - these are all burdens. All consciousness is of conflict.

Reality is described as true being, pure consciousness, infinite bliss. What has pain to do with it?

Pain and pleasure happen, but pain is the price of pleasure, pleasure is the reward of pain. In life too you often please by hurting and hurt by pleasing. To know that pain and pleasure are one is peace.