Shake Your Buddhi

‘As our spiritual knowledge grows, our identification with an individual body-mind diminishes, and our consciousness expands into universal consciousness.’

-Nisargadatta

Since it’s not the world that gives me joy or sorrow but my attitude towards the world that is responsible for my happiness or unhappiness, what I require is a change in my attitude. Attitude change or perspective change is brought about by knowledge. Therefore, what I ultimately require is knowledge. 

If my life is to change every thought in my mind has to change because life is a series of thoughts put together. How I respond is by thought. Thus the very thought process has to change.  

This is a time consuming process requiring commitment and effort. The change happens in the way of perception, in the way of decreased reactivity and in new ways of responding to situations and people in life. 

This leads to a non-temporary transformation, a transformation of the very way one sees people and creation itself.  For the sake of moksa (aka liberation, enlightenment or salvation) one must be prepared to sacrifice everything, namely my own notions, opinions, judgments, or my ego-identity. 

Since knowledge is the job of the intellect, I must utilize the intellectual faculty, or ‘buddhi’ in sanskrit.  So, the Atma (or true self, purusa) has to be known through the intellect. The buddhi is the locus. This takes place in the buddhi.

I may want to ask myself, ‘do I even have a value for wisdom or knowledge?’  I can’t pursue something seriously unless I value it, especially when the pursuit is a difficult one. In this context the knowledge is simply: I am the witness of the mind and all its ordinary and extraordinary experiences. 

Next, I train myself to switch my identification from the lower ego, relative-I personality, to the absolute-Brahman-I, or higher self.

Knowing about the higher self is easy. Dropping the identification with the lower self, the ego personality, isn’t that easy. I have to use the intellect, the buddhi. I’ve got to shake my buddhi; own up the higher self and dis-identify from the lower ego self. The Atma has to be known through the intellect.

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