Self-realization, awakening and enlightenment are terms used to describe the direct experience of Reality. This is not a usual experience (spiritual or otherwise) that you may have, because the "I" can not experience it. Yet it is an event in the phenomenal world. The space between two thoughts "I" offers this direct experience, several times a day, but as the focus is on thoughts and they are taken for real, well ... the movie "I" is more powerful than the attraction to the Truth.
See through the matrix, realize that your perception of reality depends entirely on the belief that you exist as a separate individual, is a time for some "Eureka" and is not noted for d others. In the latter case, time passes (usually years) before it is seen that thoughts are no longer raw. For some deeper understanding ensues, the mechanisms of how creation can be taken for real, are revealed. That's when phrases such as Advaita "Nothing ever happened" make sense. There is a clear understanding of what is illusion and direct knowledge of what is beyond the mind.
texts of Advaita establish that the stabilization of self-realization leads to the "state" of liberation. While the vision through the thought "I" is the first step towards liberation, it does not automatically follow that self-realization leads to the release, in each case. Of Jac that has seen during his travels in 2009, it seems that in Western cultures self-realization is taken to an end, the show ends. In some ways, this is so, however, self-realization is not the release ... there's more. What might change will continue to change the substance does not change. Thus, the sense of "I" can still occur and desires can influence the action or in some cases, the desire for total annihilation of the mind wandering, may continue until liberation.
Some useful terms to mark the difference found in the Indian culture: the guru is done, the Satguru is released.
Manifesting as Satguru, who sees the Absolute has nothing to do. No idea comes to mind. No action is ever guided by the concept. There is no sense of needing anything, ever. The release is the state that never changes, with no desire, no ideas, no imagination and no doubt.
All traces of "I Am" may disappear, leaving no trace of individuality. What remains is the consciousness that experiences consciousness. The "I" can come and go spontaneously, as the body works, but it does not matter is granted. This level of operation of the "I" is nothing other than an aid to exist.
Whoever is done can say "I am That" and released has realized the unreality of "I Am".
Blog Thoughts from January Jac June 2010
