Self - Pure Mind

[Greg Goode]

At 12:59 PM 11/7/97 -0700, Nanda Kumar wrote:

>>How is it that you know that consciousness is absent during deep
>>sleep?

>Because I can remember the dream, but can't remember anything about
>the deep sleep state which followed. So when I wake up I realize that
>there's a period when there's no conciousness. But that's only pure
>reasoning and that in itself doesn't justify the existance of the Self.

Then what is it that provides the continuity between waking states?  If
waking mind/conscioueness were all there  is, then each time you wake up it
would seem like a seamless transition between that and the previous waking
state.  You wouldn't be aware of any intervening state of non-consciousness.

>>Something must be there to record the coming and going of
>>consciousness, the coming and going of the mind.
>Why should there be something to record the coming and going of
>conciousness or the mind?

Why must there be?  Because you are aware of the coming and going of
consciousness.  How else would you be aware of it?  This is the
self-effulgence of the Self shining through, and the intellect reflecting
the luminosity of the Self.

>>Because the Self is there even if consciousness is not there.
>In deep sleep, there's absolutely no conciousness. If that's the case,
>how would we know if the Self was there?

You don't "know" its presence in the same way you'd know a tree's presence.
 The Self isn't an object of knowledge or perception, rather it is the
pre-requisite or "sine qua non" for any perception, knowledge or
consciousness.  As for proof of the existence of the Self, there's shruti
and reasoning.

You are trying to distinguish the Self from the Mind, this is tough, very
subtle, but very possible also.  The Taittiryopanisad is a marvelous
extended exercise, showing how to distinguish the Self from the mind, the
intellect, and the anandamayakosa (sheath of bliss).

--Greg
>From ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU Sat Nov  8 12:35:42 1997
Message-Id: <SAT.8.NOV.1997.123542.0100.ADVAITAL at TAMU.EDU>
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 12:35:42 +0100
Reply-To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Miguel Angel Carrasco <nisargadata at MX3.REDESTB.ES>
Subject: Two Requests
Comments: To: Advaita Mail List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
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Sorry to  bother you with two requests:

1.  I receive the advaita-l postings in the form of daily digests.
     But I haven´t got the 1 Nov to 2 Nov 1997.
     Maybe I deleted it somehow.
     Would a member kindly send it to me?
     I tried the listserver with the command
    <getpost advaita-l  digest - 1 nov to 2 nov 1997>
    but received an <unknown command> reply.

2.  I have sent several members my file ASMI
    (compilation of Nisargadatta's quotes).
    I have been working for some time with a similar
    compilation of Samkara´s works (still very inmature).
    But I wonder whether I might be doing something already done.
    Does any member know of a systematic compilation of Samkara´s writings?

Thank you very much.