The Difference Between Prajna Yantra and Nidra Yantra
From 2002 to 2007, I gave many lectures on contemplation, on Prajna Yantra, and in 2008 and 2009 more on Nidra Yantra. Nidra Yantra is connected with the subconscious, the illusory body; it leads to the attainment of siddhis, the strengthening of the subtle body, awareness in dreams, and produces various effects. Prajna Yantra is connected with wisdom. If you are a master of Prajna Yantra, you may possess no siddhis at all, and you may not even have the motivation to possess them. Nidra Yantra gives the motivation to possess siddhis, that is, your advancement manifests in the form of siddhis. But Prajna Yantra gives no motivation other than Prajna Yantra itself; that is, Prajna Yantra itself is the motivation, it is the essence of the view beyond duality and ego.
Prajna Yantra is the foundation, the mother of all the other yantras of the Laya Yoga teaching. Even if you became a novice in 2007 rather than in 2002, you can study Prajna Yantra independently, and I hope you do so, because this is a very precious teaching. It is so transcendent and sublime that it will take years to interpret, understand, and absorb it adequately.
If you understand the three lines of Prajna Yantra, then you receive a precious instrument that guides you throughout your life on the spiritual path without error. Therefore, if you are a self-respecting yogin, you understand the stages of the sixteen kalas, the three stages—shravana, manana, nididhyasana—the fivefold formula, the nine sankalpas, the nine self-liberations, all aspects of Shambhavi Mudra, and the principles of divine pride.
The Importance of Correctly Applying the View of Advaita
Without the teaching of Prajna Yantra, it will be difficult for us to apply the view of Advaita. The view of Advaita is known to many teachers and even seekers, but the whole point lies in its application. Sometimes, when you encounter adherents of Neo-Advaita or those who practice without a teacher, you speak to them as if to children. They make such mistakes that an experienced practitioner always recognizes and does not make. For example, the view is confused with behavior, stages are confused in relation to oneself, one’s level is overestimated, there is a desire to manifest the view in behavior, a lack of understanding of the various stages of tantric practitioners, and mistakes involving deviations in contemplation.
The teaching is valuable precisely because it gives you the key points, so that you make no mistakes either in the view or in behavior, and know what the Ground, the Path, and the Fruit are.
The Principle of the Ground, the Path, and the Fruit
If we do not understand the principle of the Ground, the Path, and the Fruit, we can go very seriously astray in practice. For example, one mataji asked me questions about the spiritual path because she herself had become confused. I say: “Your ultimate goal is, after all, to become awakened, a Buddha?” She says: “I am already a Buddha; that is what the view of Advaita says.” Then I ask: “And why are you asking me about this? Why don’t you teach others, why don’t you get rid of your problems? You are a rather strange Buddha. You have problems and ask me questions. Is it conceivable that a Buddha would have inner problems and ask me? It is I who can ask.”
This is an example of how the Ground, the Path, and the Fruit are confused. In the Ground, we are all Buddha, and Seva the dog is Buddha, and the peasant from the neighboring village is also Buddha. But we follow the path of Awakening; we also practice the path. Seva the dog, however, does not practice the path. She practices the path of accumulating merit for now, but not contemplation. Is there a difference? Of course there is. In the Ground, we are all nondual, we are all Brahman, but on the Path we are all different: Seva’s path is one, the monk’s path is another, the layperson’s path is a third. Whoever does not understand the difference therefore does not possess discriminating wisdom.
There is also the Fruit. The Fruit of practice is the realization of the awakened body, the three enlightened bodies. And the Fruit of the lives of others is, for example, the body of a demon in hell, the body of an asura, or the body of a god in the heavens of Indra. Do the Fruits of an Awakened One who follows the view of the Advaita teaching differ from the fruits of an ordinary person or of one who accumulates merit? Of course they differ. At the same time, their Ground does not change; no one denies that the Ground of a human being, of the god Indra, of a Buddha, and of a dog is one and the same: nondual Brahman. But since their Path is different, they also have different Fruits. Siddhas have the three awakened bodies as their Fruit; a deluded person has as their Fruit a body in the lower dimensions in the next life; a person who accumulates merit has as their Fruit a body in the heavens of Indra, which will enjoy the accumulated merits. All these are different Fruits. When we understand that the Ground, the Path, and the Fruit differ, accordingly we do not make spiritual mistakes.
When we separated the Basis, the Path, and the Fruit, we accepted that, despite the fact that the View of Advaita exists, we need to traverse a certain path. Why traverse a certain path? In order to obtain the Fruit — the three awakened bodies. The three awakened bodies are not something in themselves; they express the unity of realization, or rather: the three awakened bodies are three facets of the fruit of realization. Then we have the motivation not only to adhere to the View of Advaita, but also to traverse the path. But if a person does not understand this, he has absorbed the View of Advaita, and he has no motivation to move further, to continue traversing the path.
There was such a case: a person wanted to come to the monastery and decided to take Refuge. He began reading books in order to answer the sixteen questions. Clarity arose in him; he began to express everything poetically, to self-liberate everything, everything falls apart, all concepts and so on. He considered that he had awakened and said: “I no longer see the need to answer the sixteen questions, because everything self-liberates. I want to answer — but who am I? There is no one who will answer.” I wanted to ask him: “And who will come to Divya-loka, who will take Refuge, who will receive prasad? Then one should abandon all of this altogether, and there will be no problems. Yet you do have certain desires, karmas, and vasanas.” An experienced practitioner understands everything very subtly; he knows where in his soul there is the View, where there is behavior, where the relative mind must be applied. No problems arise. The View is hidden in the heart; on the surface is the mind that operates with concepts, when necessary, honed and clear, and these do not interfere with each other.
Analysis of Meditation Instructions
Do not apply the mind to anything and do not meditate; do not alter your body, speech, or mind, but allow them freedom. Regardless of planets, constellations, lunar days, or time, do not occupy your mind and be free from mantras and mudras.
Is this speaking about the Basis or about the Path? About the Basis? Then to whom is this being said? Is there someone in the Basis who needs to be given advice? What is being spoken of? The Fruit? But is this speaking about the bodies of the awakened one, pure lands, and creative emanations of Brahma? The View? The View is closer to Shankara: nondual, indivisible. The Path. It is very important, after reading and analyzing a sutra, to determine unerringly: this is upadesha of the Basis, this is upadesha of the Fruit, and this is upadesha of the Path. Right now we are considering precisely the Path. The Path, in turn, is divided into three categories: View, meditation, and behavior. It was said rather closely that this is the View, that is, it relates to the Path. But in fact these are not instructions on the View, but on meditation. If the instructions were on the View, the text would sound roughly like this: your nature is in no way fabricated, not contrived, beyond concepts, neither inside nor outside. These are instructions on the View. But when it is said in the imperative mood: do not meditate, open the mind wide, then these are instructions on meditation. And when it is said in general, without reference to a person: Brahman is qualityless, one without a second, without attributes, beyond name and form, then this is the Basis. You need to train your intuition in such a way that you can flawlessly see in a text which instructions relate to what. You read the “Yoga Vasistha” — where do these instructions, these specific upadeshas, belong?
The Three Aspects of the Path: View, Meditation, and Behavior
Within the Path there are View, meditation, and behavior. When the View is spoken of, it means that the View of nonduality is being transmitted to us as applied to our mind. When meditation is spoken of, we are shown exactly how to maintain this View, how to open it, how to enter into it. When behavior is spoken of, we are given instructions on how to unite the View and meditation with life, how to be in nididhyasana amid people, objects, and relationships, how to weave this into the relative dimension, into ethics, and so on. When you are told that there is the behavior of the “bee,” the “dove,” the “deer,” the “mute one,” these are instructions on behavior. The monastic ethics of vinaya and the tantric vows of samaya, Guru-disciple instructions — all of this relates to behavior. When instructions are given on how to perform visualization in Guru Yoga, these are already instructions on meditation or awareness. When it is said that the mind of the disciple and the mind of the Guru are, in essence, Brahman and are one, these are already instructions on the View. Of course, these must not be confused. Even from a practical point of view, if you are conducting a debate, you can say: “Prabhu, here you are confusing the View and behavior, or the View and meditation. This must not be done.” Many flaws can be found in the logic of those who argue when these concepts are mixed together, or when the Basis is mixed with the Path.
So, instructions on meditation. The path can be defined in Sanskrit terms as follows: jnana, dhyana, kriya. Jnana is the view, the view of nonduality, nondual wisdom. Dhyana is meditation, contemplation, awareness. Kriya is action.
The Practice of the Self-Liberation of Thoughts
After such stable meditation, it is important not to lose the direction. After meditation, practice without losing the feeling of meditation. In particular, whatever thoughts may come, each time allow them to arise and be liberated. Each thought dissolves in the state of natural liberation. In this state of non-attachment, calmly let each of them go. For it is the natural property of thought to abide originally in natural freedom.
Calmly let each of the thoughts go. If we take an ordinary person, he does not let each of the thoughts go at all; rather, his thoughts are like carving into stone. Thoughts seize him; he thinks, and then believes in what he thinks about. This belief, by reinforcing the thoughts, creates a psychological reality, and psychological reality forms external reality. This is where dependence arises. Then the person is like someone who has become entangled in his own chains, which he himself created. These chains began to be created at the moment when, instead of self-liberating a thought, he believed in it and followed it. Instead of dealing with it while abiding in awareness like the sky, or at least mentally saying: “This thought is not it; all this is the play of the nondual Brahman,” he accepted it as something real, identified with it, and his consciousness began to slide along branching chains of thoughts into an ever more complex universe.
The path of samsara and the path of Nirvana begin with whether or not thought self-liberates in us. It is usually considered that the path of Liberation is renunciation, asceticism, taking strict vows, yoga, and so on. But ordinary people think this way. These things are, of course, good, but a true jnani will say that the path of Nirvana begins precisely from the moment of self-liberation, from the moment of the empty mind. The term “self-liberation” (pratimoksha) indicates that thoughts must self-liberate by themselves. By virtue of what should they be liberated? By virtue of the fact that we directly show them the natural nature of awareness. This can be done only when we have already become sufficiently acquainted with natural awareness. If we are not acquainted with it, even after hearing these terms many times, we will wonder what it is or will think incorrectly. Again and again we must make sure that we have become acquainted with natural awareness at least a little. For example, a person may think: “Of course, I am acquainted with natural awareness.” Then some thoughts fly to him, he gets hooked on them, and they disturb him. How can he be acquainted with natural awareness? If you are acquainted with natural awareness, you will never identify with thoughts. Thoughts will be like snowflakes that fall into water and dissolve. Although there is another possibility: perhaps a person is acquainted with natural awareness, but only fleetingly, from afar, and the memory of it is lost under the pressure of thoughts or circumstances. This indicates that we need not become acquainted with the natural state just once, but establish close familiarity with it, drawing near to it as often as possible.
The Nature of Emotions and Their Self-Liberation
When the previous thought arises as hatred, and the subsequent one as compassion, the former hatred has not gone anywhere. It attains freedom in natural liberation; no one liberates it. Hatred never remains without movement. Moreover, the birth of hatred is self-arising, that is, the natural manifestation of the creative energy of primordial wisdom.
The supreme and subtle Dharma should not be given to people without understanding, to people without samaya, because they will adapt it to themselves and to their selfish attitudes, or distort it. For example, they will say: “I have already long been spontaneously and naturally liberated. A klesha manifests in me; it is natural. It manifests spontaneously. Attachment manifests, anger manifests; this too manifests spontaneously.” But when people speak in this way, it means they have no teacher, no transmission, and they are practicing not the true teaching, but only something resembling the true teaching. Because the true teaching would not make such claims; it is much subtler. Self-liberation presupposes a key point. This key point is that there is no attachment. The second key point is that any energy self-liberates into pure vision. The difference between exoteric Advaita and esoteric Advaita lies here. Those who do not understand this all follow exoteric Advaita. This difference lies in whether the release of thoughts occurs on the mental level or on a level beyond the mental: on the level of the causal body and still higher. If self-liberation occurs on the gross mental level, then this self-liberation is not true; it is mechanical. Such a person is unable to dissolve deep karmas. Perhaps he can withstand only small, not very strong karmas of this world. Mental self-liberation is unable to liberate the subtle karmas of the world of the gods and the karmas of the lower worlds; he is not free from birth and death. On the contrary, one who self-liberates from the level of turiya is a true saint; he is capable of dissolving the strongest and most subtle layers of the dualistic mind.
The Play of the Energy of Awareness
Thus, since it cannot be said, “It is born from such-and-such,” the nature of hatred is unborn. Moreover, hatred has no location whatsoever. If it did have one, and if all the hatred that had arisen from beginningless kalpas up to the present day were gathered and measured, it would not fit into a universe with thousands of galaxies. Hatred is unborn and has no location. Therefore, however it may arise, it is never rooted in reality. So where has the hatred that arose before yesterday gone today? Where, beginning today, will the hatred that arises tomorrow go? And where will it exist? Where is the hatred that arises today located now? Where does hatred go when love arises? All this manifests from the creative energy of self-born primordial Wisdom, and therefore it is not something additional and is not eliminated even if one rejects it.
These are very important words. The creative energy of self-born primordial Wisdom. Here we are speaking of the play of the energy of awareness. Play means vilasa, and the energy of awareness is chiti-shakti. This play of the energy of awareness is called chiti-shakti-vilasa. Another name for it is sahaja-spanda (closer to the teaching of Laya Yoga). That is, spanda means vibration that emanates from natural awareness.
The basis of our Mind—Parabrahman—has the inherent capacity to manifest (creative manifestations); this capacity is spanda. It usually manifests in the form of three universal powers: the power of knowledge, will, and action. Sahaja-spanda manifests depending on our karmic inclinations and depending on merit, in the form of anger, love, compassion, and so on. All this is in fact one and the same sahaja-spanda, but different imprints in our minds make us perceive it differently. Because of this, pure and impure thoughts exist.
Karmic Imprints and the Perception of Reality
For example, if a person with the karma of the gods hears that someone has risen, he will feel joy for the other and begin to praise him. A person with the karma of the asuras, upon hearing that someone has risen, will feel envy and begin to weave plots and intrigues in order to bring that person down. A person with the karma of the animal world, upon hearing that someone has risen, will become frightened, since animals are accustomed to fearing everything that is above them. And a person with the karma of the hell realm will become enraged and will want to commit some disharmonious act.
Spanda is one and the same, but karmic imprints cause the same phenomenon to be interpreted differently. Perhaps a person with the karma of pretas, upon hearing that someone has risen, will think: “It would be good to go and ask him for something.” And a person with the karma of humans will become attached and think: “It would be good if he became close to me, if the two of us formed a relationship,” and will admire him, experiencing specifically human feelings.
The same fact is perceived differently by people because of past imprints. That is precisely why there is a diversity of thoughts. Those who do not understand this principle become enchanted by the diversity of thoughts and act in accordance with karmas. Holy sages who have realized the single “taste” recognize behind the play of peaceful and wrathful thoughts, behind the play of love, attachment, envy, hatred, and delight, one and the same spanda; therefore they say that they have a single “taste.” They see: this is the play of the energy of awareness (chiti-shakti-vilasa).
The Principle of Self-Liberation
Everything is present in the natural liberation of its own quality, and therefore is not destroyed or liberated by other antidotes. Hatred, seen without veils, is primordially present as self-liberation and is effortlessly liberated into its own state. Now there is no additional basis for liberation. If one recognizes in hatred self-born primordial Wisdom and turns hatred itself into the path of genuine meditation, all appearances appear as meditation.
It is said here that for self-liberation there is no additional method other than self-liberation itself, and there is no other basis except that basis which is the ground of the arising of hatred itself, that is, the basis of the nature of our Mind. Self-liberation is called precisely so because thoughts, emotions, kleshas, karma, and in general the entire process of liberation occur by themselves by virtue of their inner nature, if only we contemplate correctly. Of course, if we contemplate incorrectly, self-liberation does not occur.
Thoughts, having arisen, return to their basis; karmas, having arisen, also return to their basis; actions are likewise liberated in their basis. When we do not leave the primordial basis of body, speech, and mind, then all our actions, as it were, begin to return inwardly to their basis. The connection with external objects, with all samsaric ignorance, ceases; the connection with future lives is cut off. We confidently follow the path of Liberation, just as one saint said: “Nowhere is there even the shadow of samsara,” if we truly recognize our basis.
The Transmutation of Karmas in Monastic Life
For example, each of you has certain karmas. Perhaps these karmas would unfold in one way or another, but since you are in a monastery, have vows and samayas, this is like a certain barrier for these karmas. These karmas will no longer unfold as they did before; vows, the sangha, Refuge, and samayas protect you from karmas. A transmutation of karmas takes place; however, the karmas have not completely disappeared. Rather, there are certain shields that protect you from their manifestation on the physical level.
For example, someone was destined to quarrel with his wife, but he became a monk: there is no wife and no quarrels, yet the karma remains, and he feels: “Something is hurting in me today; I am in a bad mood” — karmas have come from the astral body. Someone was destined to experience suffering because of his children, but he became a monk — there are no children, they were not born, yet the karmas, the imprints, are there, and he feels: “I have some attachment, some mental suffering.” These are karmas of the subtle body unfolding, because the karmas of the subtle body still have yet to be purified.
Someone was destined to become rich, an oligarch, but he became a monk and feels: “I want some comfort; various thoughts about money, about this and that, arise.” All his factories, firms, enterprises, and banks did not manifest; they were stopped and remained only in the astral body, but they come from the astral body and exert pressure. If the monk is strong, he will find the cause and dissolve them in emptiness; but if he is weak, they will continue to press and manifest as thoughts, images, and as if push him: “Create a company, open a bank, become a billionaire.” This can become a powerful thought (especially in retreat), but since he observes the vows, he will have to perform purification (samskara-shuddhi), repentance, prostrations, and so on.
The purification of subtle subconscious thoughts, which constitute the essence of this life (prarabdha-karma) and which will manifest in the next life, is self-liberation. This does not happen with an experienced practitioner, and even if karmas come, he is so rooted in the primordial natural wisdom that he instantly, in a sparkling flash, recognizes these karmas, and they instantly depart; only energy remains.
The Universality of the Principle of Self-Liberation
Then, since there will be no need to seek meditation somewhere else, the knot of the mind’s attachment will be untied right on the spot. Since you have become convinced that hatred is not born and liberates itself, whatever signs of the mind may arise, including the eighty-four thousand kleshas — all of them are unborn and liberate themselves. Therefore, there is no point in getting rid of thoughts and practicing a state without representations. If one bamboo stalk is hollow, then all bamboo stalks are hollow. If there is a partition in one node of a bamboo stalk, then there are partitions in all the nodes. If you know that one drop of water is wet, then you know that all drops of water are wet.
These are very important words. As soon as you have understood the principle of self-liberation, intellectual knowledge no longer exists for you, nor do any methods for specifically struggling with thoughts. You have understood what to do with thoughts. For example, there are many courses that examine in detail the nature of consciousness, the psyche, emotional interaction, the nature of phobias and complexes, give advice on how to develop your personality and achieve success, and all of this is done in great detail. A certain importance is attached to thoughts; all of this is discussed with great expertise. But if you have understood the principle of self-liberation, this is no longer interesting to you, even amusing, and you can change all these reasonings with a single snap. In principle, you do not work with the plane of thoughts at all; instead, you have self-liberated awareness. And if necessary, you can playfully create any mandalas or structures out of thoughts.
The Path from Self-Liberation to Awakening
The key point here is the recognition of the nature of the mirror of consciousness from which thoughts appear. Non-recognition of the nature of this mirror leads to thoughts creating karma. Recognition leads to self-liberation taking place. When self-liberation takes place, it means that we do not leave the nature of awareness; we become increasingly established in it. Being established in the nature of awareness leads to the emergence of one-pointedness in us.
When we try to become established through effort, this is the stage of nurturing; but when we have dissolved many dualistic representations and become established in such a way that our ego has weakened its positions and completely surrendered to the Absolute, when we have managed to let it go, this is called the stage of awakening. The stage of awakening is connected with absorption. At this stage, there is absorption in the self-born Wisdom, its continuous, one-pointed holding. True nididhyasana begins from this moment.
Such absorption leads to one-pointedness, and one-pointedness is the first level of the seven stages of Liberation. When absorption in one-pointedness is maintained for a long time, a response impulse arises — the grace of God, Anugraha. This response impulse and the grace of God (Anugraha) finally eliminate all of a person’s clinging, and it is said that the person receives God’s grace and becomes a saint. The response impulse of the Absolute (Anugraha) cannot be received without possessing such absorption in one-pointedness in nididhyasana.
Overcoming Eternalism and Nihilism
In exactly the same way, knowing that a moment of thought is unborn and liberates itself, you already know that every thought is unborn and liberates itself.
Knowing that every thought is unborn means that now you are no longer mistaken about thoughts. You know that thought itself has no basis beneath it, and that its basis is the self-born Wisdom of Sahaja, and nothing else. That is, eternalism in relation to thoughts, concepts, and anything at all comes to an end for you. If before this you were a hardened, inveterate eternalist, that is, you believed in the real essence of things, in the real essence of concepts, and thought that all of this was separate from you — in short, you were a lost samsaric person — then when you discover the self-born Wisdom of the Ground, you cease to be an eternalist. You know where thoughts come from and that the place from which they come is emptiness beyond name and form, beyond concepts and duality. In accordance with this, thoughts themselves have no self-existence whatsoever.
Here there is another danger — becoming a nihilist. A person discovers such a terrible secret of life: “All this is unreal, all these thoughts and concepts are unreal, everyone has been fooling me: society and the social environment, my mind and books, university teachers — all of this has been misleading me.” He develops a desire to throw away all textbooks, to discard all concepts, even sometimes to behave like a madman, that is, to express his nondual enlightened essence. But this should be avoided. Such a person may even not want to think, and he feels how any process of thinking takes away a great deal of energy. It is as if it narrows the mind again, casts it into frameworks, and sometimes such a person is afraid of conceptual thinking, afraid of theories; they frighten him. He has already understood their lack of essence, but he develops a fear of identifying with them again.
The Middle Way of Contemplative Presence
But the correct path of awareness lies in the middle; it consists not in not thinking, not in abiding in thoughtlessness, but in abiding in the Ground, which is beyond thoughts, allowing thoughts to move freely and naturally on the periphery, without identifying with them, but self-liberating. This is a fundamental point. If you follow the path of “not thinking,” you will be following the schools of Raja Yoga or Hinayana, which have not come up with anything else besides this. Then you will be called an immature practitioner of sutra, although this is not even sutra; it is not an entirely correct practice.
But the natural state is precisely that moment when your mind is paralyzed, for example, after a shout, and is in a state beyond thought, and then the first instant when thoughts begin to move, when vibration begins, but you have not yet left awareness. Against the background of the movement of thoughts there is a subtle state of thoughtlessness, and when thoughts arise, they nevertheless return to the subtle state of thoughtlessness. This we can call contemplative presence. But if there are simply no thoughts, and the mind has jammed, has become blocked, then this is unmani or the state of dhyana; it does not lead to Liberation, it leads to becoming samsaric gods.
If thoughts are denied, objects are denied, then this is nihilism; and if thoughts are acknowledged, objects are acknowledged, this is eternalism. An eternalist can be recognized: he reacts seriously to everything — that is an eternalist. For example, if you say to him, “You are a fool,” and he immediately takes offense, then he is an eternalist. He can always be embarrassed, surprised, or frightened by something; he believes everything. A naive person: if he is told some news, he immediately absorbs it; he has no self-liberation. He believes in thoughts, and if he sees a spirit that comes to him and says, “I have taken your power. Obey me,” he will be very agitated and will think about which mantra he should recite; it will impress him greatly. If a person is self-liberated, he will simply look directly at this spirit and everything will disappear, and he will not even think about it.
A nihilist has a tendency to deny absolutely everything, not to react. He thinks: “This is all illusion, and that is all illusion; it is better for me not to think, since there is no basis behind it anyway, and this too is unreal.” He does not know how to interact with this world and energy, and cannot do so. If you see a person whose mind is not very flexible, or who cannot manifest himself in some way, but at the same time he is immersed in contemplation and is not very communicative, that is a nihilist. The truth lies in overcoming these two traps and remaining in the middle. The nihilist is drawn into the unmanifest, into thoughtlessness, into emptiness and the denial of form and energy. The eternalist is drawn into form, energy, name, and everything external. But we must remain in the middle; then it will be true contemplation according to the Teaching.
The Conviction of a Single Instant
The conviction that an instant of awareness of the mind is unborn and liberates itself by itself is called conviction based on a single instant. If, rejecting this instant of consciousness, you seek something else, then understand that there is nothing to recognize.
Conviction based on a single instant means that one instant is enough for your thoughts to self-liberate, to return to their primordial nature. But if in that instant you do not have conviction in this, if you seek some methods, think, or even apply a mental path of liberation, all of this still means a lack of conviction in self-liberation. A genuine practitioner who has achieved success in awareness has the conviction of a single instant. One instant is enough for him for the ripples on the water to disperse. He needs neither arguments, nor logical analysis, nor special methods; the natural state itself is enough for the problem to be resolved in a second.
And sometimes thoughts have arisen, emotions have arisen, three minutes have passed—there is no liberation; five minutes have passed—there is no liberation; fifteen minutes have passed, and the person has already grown round horns like a mountain ram, and then he remembers: “Oh, I am supposed to self-liberate.” Then he says: “I cannot self-liberate.” He cannot because the time has already been lost; the thoughts have acquired great strength. This had to be done within the first snap of the fingers.
Conviction in the single instant of self-liberation is a great attainment. As a rule, such a person is at the stable stage of “gestation.” If he is not yet awakened, has not reached the stage of “birth,” then, at the very least, he has certainly reached this stage.
Since it is discovered that its distinctive quality is self-liberation, it is called gaining confidence on the basis of liberation. In gaining confidence on the basis of liberation, there are four great methods of Liberation.
