Living in the present means living in the myth and experiencing the myth as reality. The past, present and future are based on the ego, which is the false self within the false experience.
There is neither past nor present, nor future in reality. Thus the seeker of truth has to realize the fact that the past, present and future is part and parcel of the illusion, which comes and goes as waking or dream. The one which is aware of the coming and going of the three states is apart and eternal. Thus, it is necessary to overcome the myth that we must live in the present.
Living in the past and living in the present and living in future means living in duality. Duality is mere illusion on the standpoint of the true self, which is the soul.
There is a necessary to understand what mind is, and then only it is possible to assimilate the self-knowledge. If one limits the mind to the physical entity, then he will remain believing in the idea that mind is bundle of thoughts. This mind is bundle of thoughts idea keeps one in the grip of duality and makes one experience duality as reality.
within the waking is as real as dream.The waking is parallel dream and dream is parallel waking experience. Thus, the truth is not based on individuality but it is based on the totality of the three states, which appear and disappear in succession. Thus the intellectuality, which is based on the physicality, will yield only the understanding based on the ego, which is the false self. The non-dual wisdom will not dawn by studying the scriptures, or intellectual arguments but it will dawn only when indulges in deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning on the base of the true self.
The true self is not the ego. Basing one-self on the ego and trying to understand and assimilate the self-knowledge is impossibility. The true self is the soul, which is within the three states but it is apart from the three states. It is within the three states as their formless substance and it is apart from the three states as their formless witness. It is apart because it is not an entity or identity within the three states.
This formless witness of the three states has to be grasped mentally by constant reflecting on the subject, which is formless soul and realize the fact that the true “Self” is not an individual. Thus, it is necessary to rectify the seeking base from form to formless to understand, assimilate and realize the non-dual truth.
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I understand that by saying "living in the present" you imply "living in the present moment", it being so i feel that you are incorrect. The present becomes unreal only when it is experienced by the ego. If the ego is eliminated a jnani can experience the formless witness the supreme consciousness unfold in all its glory in the moment. Vedantins would argue that the present moment exists only within consciousness , in the absence of consciousness there is no moment. However it also holds that in the absence of the moment there will be no consciousness. I understand the moment to be one of the many dimensions of consciousness, one in which consciousness finds expression. I would say for the formless witness there is no "Living in the present" but instead "The present moment is 'that'".
Shivoham Shivoham
Ajith
I respect your views but:-
As per my conviction derived from deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning:-
The moment is time. The time creates division in consciousness, which is the true self. The past, present and future exists within the myth and so also this and that. Without the past and future there is no present. The sense of time is within the myth. Any type of experience is myth. The Gnani is one who knows the myth is also consciousness. Thus he is fully aware of the fact that, all divisions within the consciousness are mere mirage.
A Gnani is fully aware of the fact that, the waking experience is mere mirage created out of the consciousness Therefore, The time ,which is in the form of the past ,present and future are reality within the myth[waking or universe]. From the ultimate standpoint the waking experience itself is myth.
The truth is hidden within the waking experience but it is without the waking experience. The witness is the one which witnesses the form, time and space, not the physical witness from which one is trying to judge and assimilate truth. Thus until and unless one learns to view and judge the truth on the base of Atman as self, it is very difficult to know what is witness and what is witnessed. If body is not the self then it is erroneous to judge and conclude the truth on the base of body as self or witness, because the understanding and assimilation is limited to intellectuality, which is limited to physicality.
There is a need to analyze the three states and discriminate the time and timeless experiences, to grasp the formless witness, which is apart from form, time and space.
The ego cannot be eliminated without understanding “what is mind” and “what is the subsistence of the mind”.
All the form, names, words which create division within the consciousness are unreal in their nature. Whatever the stuff from which the form, name, words are erupted that stuff is real and eternal. That stuff is consciousness, which does not come under any laws and theories of the ego, but people are marketing it playing with ornamental words.