When reality is so near...

Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness become the vast world.

Look closely and you will see that all names and forms are but transitory waves on the ocean of consciousness, that only consciousness can be said to be, not its transformations.

In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing on paper.

And the ink that leaves a trace is memory.

You are that tiny point, and by your movement the world is ever re-created.

Stop moving and there will be no world.

Look within and you will find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body, as the sense "I am".

There is only light, all else appears.

To the mind, it [that light] appears as darkness.

It can be known only through its reflections.

All is seen in daylight - except daylight.

To be the point of light tracing the world is turiya.

To be the light itself is turiyatita.

But of what use are names when reality is so near?



Nisargadatta Maharaj
from I Am That