Sri Annamalai SwamiQ: It is difficult for me to stay focussed on the I-thought especially when I am in the middle of worldly activities. Is it enough to be aware of awareness, of consciousness in general?
AS: If you are conscious of of consciousness, there is no duality. Everything is included in consciousness.
Q: But is it enough to be aware of the awareness?
AS: You are repeating the question, so I will repeat the answer. If you remain in the state of consciousness, there will be nothing apart from it. No problem, no misery, no questions.
Q: Are you always in that state of consciousness? I find that when I am busy with activities, thoughts come up and I am no longer remembering myself. I am no longer focusing on consciousness.
AS: I don't lose consciousness of the Self because I don't get identified with the body and the mind. It is only in the state in which you identify with the body and the mind that problems arise.
In deep sleep we forget the body and the mind, but consciousness is still there. That same state is present now, while we are awake. If you give up all your ideas about separateness, that will be enough. When those ideas have gone you realize you are everything.
Q: In the Ribhu Gita it is mentioned that bad qualities and good qualities are both Brahman. Does that mean that we don't need to care about good and bad qualities?
AS: In your real state there is only consciousness. In deep sleep no names and forms manifest in that consciousness, whereas in the dreaming and waking state they do. When you look at a piece of cloth, you notice its name and form attributes: the color, the design, the thickness, etc. But what you are really looking at is just threads. The underlying nature of consciousness, the equivalent of the threads in the cloth, is peace. To abide knowingly as consciousness is to be a deep, undisturbed peace, even though thoughts and activities may be manifesting in it. When you see through the eyes of wisdom, there is only peace. No bondage or samsara touches you. Even to say that the Self is peace is not quite correct. I call it peace, but really, it is not something that can be described or defined by words.
Good and bad qualities are ideas that manifest in the mind, in samsara. They are concepts that vanish when only this peace remains. When you are peace, when you are consciousness, all good qualities will manifest in you and through you but you will not be aware of them being 'good'. You will just be that peace.
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