BY WHAT LIGHT IS CONSCIOUSNESS KNOWN?

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

69. BY WHAT LIGHT IS CONSCIOUSNESS KNOWN?
In ancient times, your ancestors went upon a great, extraordinary, unique quest, a quest after
the unknown, the unseen, a quest after that which is hidden and occult, behind and beyond the seen
and the known. They went into a quest after this unknown something, not knowing what it was or
even whether it existed.
What was the need of going in search of something whose existence they were not sure
about? The need was because they discovered that all that is seen, all that is perceived by the five
senses, is temporary, changeful, unstable, perishable, subject to decay and dissolution; they saw

that everything that is beheld is in flux. They also saw that everything has a beginning and an end, is
limited in space, and unreliable because of its changing nature.
They felt that this was unsatisfactory and they wanted to know: “Is there something which is
permanent? Is there something that is changeless, imperishable, eternal?” Thus they commenced
this extraordinary quest into an unseen inner realm that to them was strange. They became explorers
who chanced upon a great discovery in the course of their quest. They discovered that indeed there
was such a thing as they were searching for, something beginningless, endless, changeless,
imperishable, permanent, beyond time and space, eternal and infinite.
That they declared to be the Reality, OM TAT SAT, the eternal beyond the non-eternal, the
unseen reality behind and beyond the seen, passing unrealities, the imperishable and indestructible
behind and beyond all that is perishable and subject to decay, dissolution and destruction. And
because that was the state of the light of awareness and knowledge, they called it the great Light of
lights beyond all darkness, the source of all that shines. It was the causeless cause, the sourceless
source, the eternal.
That discovery and experience they left to posterity for all times. And that Light has never
faded because it is an eternal light. It is That that is upholding today in this world of ours all that is
lofty, sublime, pure, noble, worthy, holy and sacred. It is the essence in an otherwise essenceless
and also senseless human existence that is characterised by birth, death, old age, disease, decay,
hatred, violence, unrighteousness, criminality, falsehood, dishonesty and vice.
In this darkened state of affairs of present day humanity there shines this Light and you are
that Light. Your life, your human status is a rare opportunity and occasion to rise beyond this
darkness and come into the dazzling light of Self-awareness, the dazzling experience of the
effulgence that you are.
Long ago, in bygone ages, to show us step by step the way to that Light, a teacher asked a
disciple: “Beloved student, by what light are all things here seen?” “Sir, it is by the light of the sun.”
“Beloved student, when the sun sets and night falls, by what light are all things perceived here?”
“Sir, by the light of the moon.” “When it is new moon day and no moon shines in the sky, by what
light are things known here?” “Sir, by the light of the stars.” “And upon a dark, cloud-filled night in
the middle of monsoon, when no moon or stars can be seen, by what light does one perceive things
here?” “Sir, by the light of a fire.”
“And if one descends into a cellar on a dark, moonless and cloudy night and the light you
have is blown out by a gust of wind, everything is plunged into total darkness, then by what light are
things perceived, by what light do you know that you are in a cellar, that there is a staircase that you
have descended and that there are four walls and other objects there?” “Sir, by the light of the
previous memory of these things seen before.”
“Beloved student, who is this perceiver who through memory is able to recollect things, to
see with his mind’s eye? Who is that being? By what light are things thus perceived by the mind’s
eye? What is that light that makes one aware when nothing is seen, nothing is perceived—no name,
no form—nothing is known to exist even though the eyes are open? What is that light?

“It is the light of consciousness—a being who is conscious of things even when nothing is
perceived, a being who is aware. What then is the essence of that being? It is awareness, it is
consciousness. That thou art. Thou art that light of consciousness that needs no other light to know,
for it is the essence of knowing. It is knowledge absolute, and it is beginningless and endless. That is
the great Reality, the Truth, Brahman, the Light of lights beyond all darkness. It alone is real and
That thou art.”
When we are in a state of non-perception of that Reality, when the seen alone is real to us,
when the many alone is real to us, when the unseen, the one and non-dual is not the reality to us,
then—in this state of spiritual ignorance, of spiritual non-perception—it is a crucial question for
seekers and spiritual aspirants to know by what light That is to be known.
It is a crucial question, and that light is the light of truthfulness. It is by the light of
truthfulness that It is known. One who is truthful knows the Reality. That light is the light of purity.
One who shines with the light of purity becomes the all-pure Brahman and knows the great Reality.
That light is the light of dharma, the light of righteousness. One who worships dharma, one who
tries to follow dharma, comes to realise Reality through the light of dharma.
Therefore, truth, purity and righteousness are the blazing torch that leads the seeker upon
this pathless path that ultimately leads to illumination, enlightenment, realisation and liberation.
This, therefore, is the light by which we should illumine our life until we attain the great goal of
merging into that Light of lights beyond all darkness. This is the light that illumines the life divine.
It is the light that is enshrined at the very centre of the shrine of divine life—truthfulness, purity and
righteousness in daily life.
We offer our worshipful homage and heart’s gratitude to that great Reality that has given us
the gift of this morning hour that we may ponder these eternal truths that never change, even when
everything else may and does change. They are eternal values, and in the changing drama of human
life upon this earth plane, in this ever-changing flux of the phenomenal appearance, these are
eternal verities, eternal values that abide forever—unchanging, forever valid, forever applicable.
May we contemplate this truth and be blessed!