Existence, Infinity & Unknowing

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EKX8XguDDI

there is a question sometimes or there

is a statement from a big guru that

and the whole of the existence is

infinite

and usually everybody accepts it because

said by somebody great

how do we know that

is the existence infinite

what is the evidence for that

where is the proof

can you show me that it is infinite

now this should be the questions that

one should ask their teachers

we don't see the infinite isn't it

is it even possible to know if something

is infinite or not

given limits of our own knowledge and

perception

and intelligence

if not then how come the teacher

not the great master

came to this conclusion that everything

is infinite because the great claim is

that once you know your own self you

know everything

so we can test this claim today

how to find out if the existence is

infinite

and how to find out if it is finite

so as usual we start with the words

what do you mean by existence

what do you mean by infinity

this is how we start there is no other

way to start you cannot get out of your

house and start

searching for

in the infrared existence somewhere out

there

when i say existence people picture this

big universe in their mind with galaxies

floating in the black space

isn't it this is our conditioning

remember what will be existence like

from the point of view of a villager for

example a tribal person in the jungle

who has who does not have such notions

who thinks that the stars are holes in

the sky

from which the light of the heavens is

leaking

something like this in a different world

view

what will be the existence for that

person

or let us say some liberated mind where

who has seen all the universes

all the past present and future is in

front of him

what will you think about the existence

so one thing you can

you know certainly say

existence is dependent

on the mind

different kind of minds will think about

existence differently

it is not something

which is objective which is

simply out there and you can go and look

at it and look this is the existence and

i know what it is it is not like this it

is an idea that's all it is

if i can experience something

it exists

the word exists means to stand out

so if i if i can experience something

it exists

and the sum total of my experience is

what i call existence

is that a good enough definition because

because it is subjective existence is

subjective if i don't experience it does

not exist

and my word existence covers all that

exists

now you should not have any kind of

doubt here and the things that are not

experienced they do not form the

existence

you may have an idea about it an

imagination about it

but

do not form

the part of the existence

so all that can be experienced comes

under existence

for example i say

i i have a white

elephant

that can fly

it is standing there in my backyard

now is it a far is it part of existence

simply because i could imagine it

because i can put it in the language

so obviously no

because it is it exists as an idea

the idea is

the imagination is part of the existence

because i can experience that idea you

can also experience the idea

but not

the white flying elephant

so we should not have doubts like this

that i don't experience that this and

that and so it

but still it can be a part of the

existence

no it should not happen

if you want to have any meaningful

knowledge of the existence

it should be based on the experience

so a totality of my experience

is the existence

and like i just said it is limited to

what i can experience and the experience

is limited to the five senses

but there is more the mind is also there

everything that goes on in the mind

the

experience of the internal senses the

experience of the senses inside the body

also

there are three layers of experiences

the first is what you call the world it

is coming through the senses is

obviously limited second is the

experience of the body which is coming

from the internal senses of the body

and the third is the mind itself which

is coming from the mental senses

all of them are limited

so if what i can experience is limited

that means the existence must be limited

like i can experience only this much

so that you know totally falsifies

whatever

that the question is saying

you have the answer now

look at the existence it is limited

because only this much can be

experienced

are we forgetting something because the

master will not say this just you know

just for time pass he must have he must

have done some great introspection this

must be a result of some insight

you can give him benefit of doubt

because he is the master

so when we look at our ordinary

experience it is very limited

it is very

finite

now we can go deeper in this

and

try to find the limit of the experience

where did the ex

where did our experience start

when did it start

where is it going to end

we have considered one dimension of the

existence which is

right now right here whatever the

sensors are telling us

whatever is our current experience

let's add one more dimension there

the time

is there a limit on what can be

experienced

you will see that even these five

limited senses they are producing a lot

of variety of experience

your today's experience is different

from your studies experience it is

different from the experience that you

had one month ago

which is different from the experience

that

you had 10 years ago

when you visited new place new

experience

now the place come came into existence

now is there a limit to the places you

will say yes the planet is the limit but

then there is a whole universe there

theoretically it is possible to

experience that

and then you you can say the universe is

the limit but no and there is more

if you are exploring the universal mind

you know this universe is only tiny part

of it

so from these two angles you know that

the current experience is limited by

the kind the kind of experience is

limited but the amount of the experience

i cannot find a limit there

yes it will come in form of pictures

sounds and

um the mental activity and the different

kinds of bodies different

forms but

that is one dimension of its limit

but in the

other dimension

there can be many kinds of experiences

i do not see

something fundamental limit that look

after this where the experience will

stop

is it possible

can the experience stop

you see when we go a little deep

in such questions which looks like a

tiny ui any very innocent question is

the existence infinite and you are

expected to say yes or no but we don't

do this

we also want to know the reason

so when you go into the depths of such

questions you will explore

you will you will find

some

something fascinating

that i did not even think that

the experience can have dimensions like

this

that there can be different ways to

check

to talk about the experience the current

experience yes this one

then there are types of experiences yes

these three types

then there is this temporal dimension i

don't know when it started

and then you the experience of the

universal mind which is not presently in

the waking state

then you know suddenly that oh the

experience is dependent on the mind and

also dependent on the mental state

see how much was learnt simply by asking

this question now it may look like that

i stand nowhere now i'm simply you know

swinging from this branch to that branch

like a monkey i don't stand anywhere

you you must be in a hurry to find out

what's the answer then

well

that is not the point isn't it the point

of the introspection is to introspect

the answer may come may not come

you get the insights

so the deeper will look and the more

fuzzy it becomes but you gain some

insights

so now i hardly know whether it is

infinite or not because there are so

many question marks there

did it start somewhere because in order

to be finite something should have a

start isn't it i should be able to mark

or look the experience or the existence

is starting here and it is going to end

here and there is the

finitude there is the limit to it

and now i i try to check my experience

and i don't see anything like this

i don't see a start of it

i don't see an end of it

it's not my direct experience

and now you can

question your assumptions because some

people may have this kind of assumption

that look the experience started as soon

as i was born

what is birth whose experience started

did you

had the experience of

a body starting or did you have the

experience of the experience starting

you see a seeker should question like

this it should be perfectly logical

what was your experience of birth was it

start of a body or was it start of an

experience or both

probably my experience started

from the birth

but since there was a birth and it

existed in the existence

the existence must be already there

isn't it

can you doubt about this no no

everything was born at the same time

including my father mother and

everything

and that is probable it's a very

farfetched isn't it because i don't have

an evidence i do have an evidence of the

experience of the others and if you ask

your mother and father they will say

well we were experiencing the world the

body you appeared

you were born the experience did not

bond

it is very easy

i cannot say that my experience is the

only experience

because there are others who will tell

them no i know more than you

i am i exist before you arrived in the

world so no the birth did not start an

experience the birth started a body

in the existing existence in the

existing experience a new experience was

born

a new point of view was born

hopefully that is not so illogical

and what will be the end of the

experience

and the obvious answer is as soon as i

die the experience is going to end but

will that end existence

and

now you you can use the same logic as

before as long as there is a conscious

being

experiencing something there will be an

experience there will be existence it

does not end with the death the body

ends with the death

experience

i cannot find a beginning

i cannot find an end so it it seems now

logical to conclude that so there is no

end no beginning sounds like infinity

now

we are approaching this now

so now you can add another dimension to

the existence

which is our well-known

experience sir

it is not the ego the ego is an

experience the ego is a part of the

existence you cannot say

it's not there it is there

so an experiencer must be the universal

experiencer

the same experiencer that is

experiencing through all the bodies

what has happened at the birth is that

and the experiencer got one more point

of view that's all

in the existing infinity of the

existence

the infinity was

you can say perceived from one more

limit limited point of view again

this is the miracle of the birth the

birth is not really birth of a body the

birth is appearance of a new point of

view for this experiencer

what is experiencing

obviously there is nothing else there

experiencer is a part of the existence

so the existence is experiencing itself

or you can say there is no separate

reality

which is experiencing this existence

because it's not logical to say like

this you see because if it is separate

reality where is it

how far away it is from this reality

what is the connection between that and

this so that it can experience this

you see

so as soon as there is a connection that

means the one reality can experience the

other reality that means there is a

connection

it is connected

that means it is just one you need to

just zoom out and oh look there's one

and it is not logical to say like this

what is logical is that the experience

is a part of the reality

and

the existence in the form of experiencer

is happening

in this existence only

this and this is you know other way of

saying that there's only oneness

there's no two

so if we come to this

another dimension of the experiencer

it is the existence itself

it has this power you can say

to experience

itself

so if you examine this new dimension of

the experiencer here and you can say

that whatever can be experienced is

being experienced by the experiencer

and experiencer is now limited by this

experience

now if you take a look at the

experiencer and try to find its limit

yes the experience is limited

what about the experience sir

if it is limited

you will see it look there is this limit

here

and then this limit will become an

experience it won't fall in the category

of the experiencer

no matter what you do

no matter how hard you try

you won't find limit on the experiencer

there is no limit on the experiencing

you can say

just like the experiencing goes on the

experiencer goes on there is you cannot

find a limit

how how are you going to put a limit on

that which is experiencing

it can appear as

finite limited

just like now it is appearing

it can appear as infinite it goes on and

on and on the experience goes on and on

it can appear as that which is

experiencing

it can appear as the mind it can appear

as the illusion the ignorance in the

mind

and so on

it is as if you see

there is this

the existence is a bartender you go

there and it says what would you like to

have today

i'm at your service you say i want

something finite it will give you

exactly that

next day you come i'm in a total total

different mood i want something infinite

it will give you that

and the next day you come and say that

oh i want something mysterious that i

cannot know whether it started whether

it will end

and okay sir this is your drink

the unknowable drink

and other day you come i want nothing

and it will say okay i have nothing to

give you now

take this nothing

so did you get an answer i don't think i

don't think there are any any answers on

the path of knowledge

but yeah surely if you had any kind of

irrational assumptions surely they are

wiped out by now

so yes it is possible to show that it is

finite it is possible to show it is

infinite

if you and it is possible to show that

it is unknowable

and now you cannot say anything about

infinite finite anything

and then it is possible to show that

there is nothing there

to question about

if all my all the

existence is experienced

and the experience is only the illusion

of experience

then

well there is nothing really

and then you can you can argue like this

so but yes it probably there is nothing

probably it's all made up but there is

the experience sir

which is witnessing these these

illusions the witness cannot be an

illusion

so it's not nothing

there is something

and

now you feel that you i'm very sure that

there is a witness

there is

a consciousness awareness there whatever

you want to call it now

daatman the brahmana the sachitana

big big names

is it there

you can say the experience is the

experiencer the athman is the only thing

that exists

every other thing is non-existent this

is the great statement of

advaith

why do they say that and that means it

exists that way something is there

that means something is happening even

if it is an illusion

of happening

we are again in some kind of confusion

here

if you say there is existence

it must be happening

if you say nothing is happening nothing

should be there

there will not be anybody to

put this question then

is there anything happening if there is

a question then there must be something

that is happening

i know this is the kind of trick

question this is a

very deep question also

and

i don't think you will get an answer

but it's good to think like this

there is an answer that is and that is

again in the buddhism

which is

well all the existence is emptiness

and now it is self-contradictory answer

so if it is emptiness how can you say it

exists

yes that is a very very good question

who is asking the question you see

that can be an illusion

the emptiness is asking

why am i empty

that which appears to be asking is

actually not there

it's

non-existent

there is only the emptiness

so it looks like that well

it's not going to be resolved

and

that's why the brahman is also called

the unknowable

a gay

if you

recall the hermetic philosophy

the all is unknowable

he says

this is not not

what you call limit of our intelligence

i can i can tell you you can think about

this

in the question of existence for many

many years

and you will arrive at this statement

that

all is unknowable

all is existence isn't just another word

for the existence

so just like i said you can make it

into anything you want it will appear as

anything if you want it will become

finite which is what it is for most of

the people here it starts with the birth

and it ends with the death and in

between there is a narrow band of

experiences

they happen in perfectly predictable

mechanical manner this is most of the

people will say like this

this is the

you know ignorance of the waking state

then if you want you can make it appear

something else if you explore more

states of the mind

then it will

take many many forms there is no end to

it therefore you can declare oh it is

infinite

which is also half truths isn't it

because yes it is infinite in some way

there is no limit there

but can something exist

if it is infinite

also unsolvable question unknowable

question yes it can exist if it's finite

you know it starts here it ends there i

can see it in any form i want

and

the experience is there and the finite

things exist

if it isn't finite can it exist

well i don't know unknowable yes the

existence is infinite so existence does

not exist then

which is self-contradicting

statement

oxymoron

oneness can be known only as duality now

oneness can be known as finite things in

chunks

if you want to know the whole of it it

will look like infinite and then these

questions will arise you know what kind

of infinite it is

can it really exist if it is not finite

and if it is infinite well then only the

emptiness can be infinite only if it is

0 you can say it can be infinite it can

appear as infinite

so if it is 0 that means nothing this

whatever happens is an illusion of some

kind

just b

you don't worry whether it is infinite

finite or how it appears

and whether it is dual non-dual

whether it is or it is not

and these these are you know all

occupations and this is all

activity of the mind

the final the ultimate is unknowable

beyond mind

so this is how we reach beyond mind you

see

are you there now are you on on the

place of beyond mind

because the mind must have stopped by

now

this is how we reach above knowledge

when we try to know if you know that

means is an assumption

it is guaranteed that it is a half-truth

and

a new bc curve will stop at the

half-truth

an advanced seeker will keep on

advancing keep on questioning

and

reach

the not knowing

not knowing is more important than

knowing because it is the final place it

is the final resting place for the mind

as long as you know something

that is all illusion

so there is a saying again in advaith

that when you know the self you know

everything

it this does not really happen isn't it

when you know the self this need to know

drops

instead of knowing it is a state of

being

you know everything as nothing

which may appear is fine i didn't find

this that you don't care now

it is all mind so what good are all

these theories what good are all these

you know

knowledge that i accumulated very very

fine kind of knowledge you see

very very logical systematic

i know everything

is it of any use

if there is a use there is i'm not going

to say it is totally useless there is a

use and throw kind of use

that this knowledge will will take you

to the place of not knowing

then not knowing is arrived at

through knowing

once you know that i do not know you can

drop

the knowing