…the knowing before knowledge
We speak of light so casually.
We switch it on.
We measure it.
We chase it at sunrise and paint it at sunset.
But this is not the light I am pointing to.
Not sunlight.
Not electricity.
Not the soft glow of a lamp in a quiet room.
Not even the contrast between light and darkness.
Because the light of consciousness…
is not the opposite of anything.
—
This light does not shine.
It does not travel, reflect, bend, or fade.
It has no wavelength.
No source.
No shadow.
And yet, without it, nothing can be known.
Not the world.
Not thought.
Not even the sense of I.
—
This is a strange light.
Because when it is absent…
there is no “absence.”
There is no knowledge.
No knower.
No field of knowing.
And when it is present…
it does not announce itself.
It simply is.
Silent.
Self-luminous.
Unconditioned.
—
We mistake awareness for content.
We call thoughts “alive.”
We call emotions “real.”
We chase experiences thinking they will enlighten us.
But all of these are seen.
And that which sees…
is the light.
—
Shri Ramakrishna spoke of it as light without properties.
A light that cannot be described because description belongs to the mind.
A light that cannot be grasped because grasping requires duality.
A light after which there is no light…
and no darkness.
Because both dissolve.
—
At first, we approach it through effort.
Through discipline.
Through inquiry.
Through meditation.
We refine the body.
We quiet the mind.
We attune the energies.
We try to reach it.
—
But something interesting happens.
The more we try to reach it…
the more we begin to see—
it was never absent.
—
Effort reveals its own limitation.
Because what we seek is not an object,
not a state,
not an achievement.
It is what makes seeking possible.
—
So the journey turns.
From doing…
to being.
From seeking…
to noticing.
From effort…
to effortlessness.
—
Matter dissolves into energy.
Energy dissolves into space.
Space dissolves into silence.
And then—
even silence dissolves.
—
What remains cannot be spoken of.
Because there is no “you” left to experience it.
And no “reality” left to stand apart from.
There is only…
pure consciousness.
—
And this consciousness is not personal.
It is not yours or mine.
It does not belong to the body.
It does not begin or end with the mind.
It is there—
before the body,
within the body,
beyond the body.
Unchanged.
—
This is the light.
The light of consciousness.
The light without any properties.
The light that does not illuminate things—
but makes illumination itself possible.
—
Those who have glimpsed it speak not in certainty,
but in wonder.
They speak of Oneness—
where separation fades.
They speak of Bliss—
not as emotion,
but as the absence of lack.
They speak of Truth—
not as belief,
but as direct knowing.
—
Sat.
Chit.
Ananda.
Not three things.
But one seamless reality.
—
And somewhere along the way, a quiet recognition arises—
You were never in darkness.
You were never separate.
You were never searching outside.
—
You were always…
that light.
—
Poetic Closing
Not the light that falls on objects,
but the light in which objects appear.
Not the flame that flickers,
but the stillness that allows it to be seen.
Not the dawn that comes and goes,
but the presence in which all cycles rise and dissolve.
Beyond knowing… yet all-knowing.
Beyond being… yet the essence of being.
A light without brightness,
a silence without absence—
Ever there.
Ever you.