The Stillness Inside

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Abstract

s with a lovely Sanskrit heritage: from <i>nirvāṇa</i>, from <i>nirvā</i> “be extinguished”, from <i>nis</i> “out” + <i>vā-</i> “to blow”.</p><p id="2100">While words like extinguish and blow out might imply a grim, lasting darkness, they do not tell the whole tale, and I believe Rabindranath Tagore put a few minds at ease when he said, with a smile: “Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the [individual] flame because day is come.”</p><p id="fcf7">The Upanishads said that the stillness inside you is called Atman.</p><p id="6bdf">They said that the stillness inside me is called Atman.</p><p id="8ecc">They said that the ultimate stillness is called Brahman.</p><p id="4630">They said that Atman is Brahman.</p><p id="3554">They said that Brahman is Atman.</p><p id="029d">Hence: I am you.</p><p id="b3aa">Hence: You are Me</p><p id="e7a2">QED.</p><p id="626d">© Wolfstuff</p><p id="00f4">P.S. If you like what you’ve read here and would like to contribute to the creative motion, as it were, you can do so via PayPal: <a href="http://paypal.me/UlfWolf">here</a>.</p><div id="a00f" class="link-block"> <a href="htt

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aka Nirvana

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The one thing we share: the stillness inside you the stillness inside me

The innermost stillness — some call it emptiness, some call it the inner void — is shared among us all.

This stillness has but two properties, and they are eternal: awareness and will.

This stillness, or these stillnesses, from one being to the next, are not only look-alikes, they are the same. Sankara pointed this out, the Vedas brought it up, and the Upanishads sang it.

Even while the Buddha on occasion ridiculed the Upanishads — he wanted to ensure we did not surmise an individual, unchanging atman essence — he never said that Nirvana (another word for this stillness) was not alive. Empty of all phenomena, yes, but empty of life — awareness and will — no.

The westernized Nirvana, by the way, comes with a lovely Sanskrit heritage: from nirvāṇa, from nirvā “be extinguished”, from nis “out” + vā- “to blow”.

While words like extinguish and blow out might imply a grim, lasting darkness, they do not tell the whole tale, and I believe Rabindranath Tagore put a few minds at ease when he said, with a smile: “Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the [individual] flame because day is come.”

The Upanishads said that the stillness inside you is called Atman.

They said that the stillness inside me is called Atman.

They said that the ultimate stillness is called Brahman.

They said that Atman is Brahman.

They said that Brahman is Atman.

Hence: I am you.

Hence: You are Me

QED.

P.S. If you like what you’ve read here and would like to contribute to the creative motion, as it were, you can do so via PayPal: here.