I am first and last freedom. – J
Krishnamurti
I Am is like a prison door. Passing through this door to
the outside world would lead to bondage. While seeking, on the inward path
through the door would lead to the truth, freedom and eternity. Going
outwards tangled in web of thoughts, images, feelings, perceptions,
experiences, is the world or samsara. Inward journey is home bound to the
infinity or nirvana.
The ‘I am’ is at the root of all appearance and
the permanent link in the succession of events that we call life; but I am
beyond the ‘I am’.- Sri
Nisargadutta Maharaj
The knowledge I Am is the first subtle portal, root or the
source from which thoughts of separate self, being a person, passes from
eternity and appears in consciousness (from infinity to limitedness) and
becomes time bound. On the way to dissolution, I Am is the last point through
which thoughts pass and vanish into infinity. The I Am is the root thought from
which all other thoughts arise. Therefore, being steadily aware of the root
thought I Am, points directly to the substratum, sense of spacious awareness,
beingness, consciousness, emptiness, nothingness.
The ‘I’-thought will be found to be the
root-cause. Go deeper. The ‘I’-thought disappears and there is an infinitely
expanded ‘I’-consciousness.- Sri Ramana
The sense of I Am a separate self, on investigation, has
the first primary realization that it is an unbounded aware spacious presence
and not a limited person. When attention is stationed and concentrated in sense
of I Am, ignorance dissolves due to lack of attention. Non pursuance of
thoughts, appearances, concepts, experiences and the world, results in
weakening the mind, diminishes the flow and impact of thoughts. Attention
resting in I am is the effortless natural state of awareness, natural state of
being.
This I Am is the crucial turning point
where attention rests, being focused on itself there is clearing of ignorance
and realization of the truth that it is not a limited separate self, not a
person but the eternal, infinite, universal I Am. Therefore, this is the light
at the end of the tunnel for liberation seekers, doorway to eternity.
Spiritual teachings have emphasized on
simple technique to be aware and rest attention on I Am at all times; seek the
source of I Am and it will vanish. If the I Am root thought is identified and
pulled out, then all other thoughts are at the same time uprooted.
If you
can hold on to this knowledge ‘I am Self’ at all times, no further practice is
necessary.—Annamalai Swami: Final Talks, page 39.
May
collective efforts from all beings on the path of realization bear fruits and
be liberated. 🙏
Thank You!!
🙏
AB