Chapter 1: What is the universal desire for peace of mind?
The most universal of all desires in humans is unequivocally expressed in the spontaneous statement made by all alike. I want peace of mind. It means that the activity of the mind is never our ultimate goal. Examining this statement closely and impartially, we find that peace is the real goal of all desire.
But in our utter inability to extricate ourselves from the clutches of the mind, we link the mind also to that desire for absolute peace. And we claim ourselves to be the enjoyer. But alas, when the mind, freed from all its activities, comes into contact with the peace it desires, it finds itself merged and lost in that peace, thus returning to its real nature.
Therefore it is one's own real nature that everybody seeks, knowingly or unknowingly. Mind as mind knows no peace. And mind at peace is no mind at all.
Chapter 2: How does the mind relate to the pursuit of peace?
Every perception, thought or feeling is known by you. You are the knower of the world through the sense organs. Of the sense organs through the generic mind and of the mind with its activity or passivity. by yourself alone. In all these different activities you stand out as the one knower. Actions, perceptions, thoughts and feelings all come and go
But knowingness does not part with you, even for a moment. You are therefore always the knower. How then can you ever be the doer or the enjoyer? After understanding the I principle as pure consciousness and happiness, always use the word I or Noah to denote the goal of your retreat.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of knowingness in our true nature?
The I always brings subjectivity with it. It is this ultimate subjective principle I divested of even that subjectivity that is the goal. Consciousness and happiness may possibly have a taint of objectivity in their conception, since they always express themselves in the realm of the mind. When one is deeply convinced that one's self is consciousness and happiness, one finds it as the nameless.
Whereupon even this namelessness seems a limitation. Giving up that as well, one remains as the I principle, the Absolute. When you try to visualize the absolute in you, nothing can possibly disturb you because every thought or perception points to yourself and only helps you to stand established as the absolute. To become a sage means to become aware of what you are already.
In this connection, it has to be proved that knowing is not a function.
In all your life,
Chapter 4: How does understanding consciousness lead to liberation?
you feel you have not changed. And of all your manifold activities from your birth onwards, the only activity that has never changed is knowing. So both these must necessarily be one and the same. And therefore, knowingness is your real nature. Thus, knowing is never an activity in the worldly sense. since this knowing has neither a beginning nor an end.
And because it is never separated from you, it is your real nature. Just as shining is the real nature of the sun and not its function, Understanding it in this way and realizing it as one's true nature brings about liberation from all bondage.
When you reach consciousness or happiness, you lose all sense of objectivity or duality and stand identified with the ultimate subjective I principle or the absolute.
Chapter 5: What happens when subjectivity vanishes in spiritual realization?
Then the subjectivity also vanishes. When the word pure is added onto consciousness, happiness or I, even the least taint of relativity is removed. There, all opposites are reconciled All paradoxes stand self-explained and everything or nothing can be said about it.
Thank you. . . . Thank you.