ALL ELSE IS BONDAGE : IV




It: On Realising Mind


When Time stops the universe disappears

It is here all the time precisely because it is beyond the reach of time; and it cannot be held because time is intermittent.
It is present in every now-moment between the tic-toc of serial manifestation via which it functions indirectly.
We know it eternally. It is the background not only of thought - as Maharshi told us - but of every act of living.
That is why it is pure Function, and what pure Function is.

'It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.' - MUMON

It is the function whose dualistic and temporal manifestation is living, the act of every action, the origin of every thought, the basis of every percept, not directly what we do, what we think, what we see, subject to Time, what we project serially in the sensing as each phenomenal object. It is the living itself of life, not the way we live it objectively.

The awakened can live directly (as the 'Zen' archer or swordsman can act directly), 'we' live indirectly, but even indirect living is ultimately it - for it, not the 'wooden puppet', the object, is all that we A R E.

'The mind or the mouth cannot act of their own accord', said Maharshi, 'Recognise the force of the Divine Will and keep quiet!' And again:
'The mind or the mouth cannot act without the Self.'


(© HKU Press, 1964)
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