Proving brahman and proving you are that brahman

Brahman is sat chit Ananda or Sathyam jnanam Anantam, proving brahman simply means proving sat chit Ananda and Anantam is non contradictory.

Part 1: The Equivalence of Changeless, Awareness, and Infinite

1. Prove: The Changeless is the Awareness.

• Premise: Let us search for that which is truly changeless.
• Inquiry: Consider all that you experience. Your body changes (it grows, ages, sickens). Your thoughts change (they arise and subside). Your emotions change (joy becomes sorrow, anger becomes peace). The world around you changes (seasons, day and night, civilizations). Every object, every perception, every sensation is in a state of constant flux.
• Analysis: All these changing phenomena have one thing in common: they are known. There is an awareness of the body changing, an awareness of thoughts arising, an awareness of the world shifting.
• The Constant: While the content of awareness is always changing, the awareness itself does not change. If awareness itself were to change (e.g., from "unaware" to "aware" or from "aware" to "unaware"), something else would have to be aware of that change. This would lead to an infinite regress (an awareness of the awareness of the awareness, etc.).
• Conclusion: The only constant factor in all experience is the knowing presence, the light of Awareness in which all change is perceived. Therefore, the only truly Changeless thing we can find is Awareness itself.

2. Prove: The Awareness is the Changeless.

• Premise: Let us examine the nature of Awareness.
• Inquiry: Awareness has no properties or attributes that can be subject to change. It is not large or small, hot or cold, young or old. These are qualities of objects that appear in Awareness.
• Analysis: Change is a modification of form or state. For something to change, it must first have a specific, limited form or state. Awareness is formless. You cannot locate its beginning, its end, or its boundary. It is the background or "space" in which all forms appear and disappear.
• Example: The movie screen does not change whether a happy scene or a sad scene is projected onto it. The screen is the changeless substratum for the changing images. Similarly, Awareness is the changeless substratum for the changing experiences of life.
• Conclusion: Because Awareness is formless and without attributes, it is not subject to modification. Therefore, Awareness is, by its very nature, Changeless.

3. Prove: The Changeless is the Infinite.

• Premise: Let us examine the nature of that which is Changeless.
• Inquiry: What does it mean to be finite? It means to have limits, a beginning, and an end.
• Analysis: Coming into being (a beginning) and ceasing to be (an end) are the most fundamental forms of change. Therefore, that which is truly Changeless cannot have a beginning or an end. It must be eternal.
• Further Analysis: A finite thing is also limited by what it is not. A cup is finite because it is defined by the space around it that is "not the cup." If the Changeless were limited, there would be something "other" than it. This would imply a relationship and a boundary, and boundaries are subject to change and interaction.
• Conclusion: For something to be absolutely Changeless, it must be without beginning, without end, and without any boundary or limit. That which is without limit is, by definition, the Infinite.

4. Prove: The Infinite is the Changeless.

• Premise: Let us examine the nature of the Infinite.
• Inquiry: The Infinite is that which is without limit, all-encompassing.
• Analysis: Change is a movement from one state to another, one form to another. This is only possible for a thing that is limited. A finite object can change because there is something it is not yet, a potential it has not yet fulfilled.
• Further Analysis: The Infinite, by definition, already is everything. There is nothing outside of it for it to become. There is nowhere for it to go, as it already occupies all "space" (not just physical). It cannot be added to or subtracted from.
• Conclusion: Lacking any potential to become other than what it is, the Infinite is necessarily and absolutely Changeless.

5. Prove: The Awareness is the Infinite.

• Premise: Let us examine the boundaries of Awareness.
• Inquiry: Try to find the edge of your Awareness. You can be aware of the limits of your vision or hearing, but you cannot find the limit of Awareness itself. Any perceived limit is an object within Awareness.
• Analysis: To posit something "outside of Awareness" is a thought. That very thought occurs within Awareness. You cannot experience, conceive of, or even imagine anything outside of the field of Awareness. It is the all-encompassing field in which the entire universe of your experience takes place.
• Conclusion: That which has no perceivable or conceivable boundary, and which contains all that is known, is functionally Infinite. Therefore, Awareness is the Infinite.

6. Prove: The Infinite is the Awareness.

• Premise: Let us examine the nature of the all-encompassing Infinite.
• Inquiry: We know that consciousness, or awareness, exists. It is an undeniable fact of our being.
• Analysis: If the Infinite were an inert, non-conscious substance (like dead matter), then Awareness would have to be a separate, limited product that arises within it. This would mean the Infinite is not truly infinite, as it would not encompass the quality of knowing. It would also mean the Changeless (the Infinite) produces change (the arising of awareness), which is a contradiction.
• Conclusion: The only way for the Infinite to be truly infinite and all-encompassing is if its fundamental nature is Awareness itself. The ultimate reality cannot be a dead, insentient thing. It must be a conscious, knowing reality. Therefore, the Infinite is Awareness.

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Part 2: The Equivalence with Bliss (Ananda)

Here, "Bliss" does not mean fleeting pleasure or happiness. It means the profound peace, contentment, and fullness that is the absence of all lack, desire, and fear.

7. Prove: The Changeless is the Bliss.

• Premise: All suffering, agitation, and discontent arise from change.
• Inquiry: We suffer because we fear losing what we have (a future change). We suffer because we desire what we don't have (a desired change). We are agitated by the constant flux and instability of life.
• Analysis: A state that is absolutely Changeless is free from all of this. It has no fear of loss, as nothing can be taken from it. It has no desire, as nothing can be added to it. It is a state of perfect, unshakeable equilibrium and peace.
• Conclusion: This state of absolute peace, free from the disturbances of becoming, is the ultimate Bliss. Therefore, the Changeless is the Bliss.

8. Prove: The Bliss is the Changeless.

• Premise: Let us examine the nature of ultimate Bliss.
• Inquiry: If a state of Bliss could come and go, it would not be ultimate. The fear of its ending would taint the experience itself, and its absence would be a cause for suffering.
• Analysis: For Bliss to be absolute, it must be unconditional and permanent. It cannot depend on any external object or internal state, as all of those are subject to change.
• Conclusion: A permanent, unconditional state of perfect contentment is, by its very nature, Changeless. Therefore, the ultimate Bliss is the Changeless.

9. Prove: The Awareness is the Bliss.

• Premise: Our natural state is one of peace; suffering is an addition.
• Inquiry: We seek happiness in objects and experiences because we feel a sense of lack or incompleteness in ourselves. This sense of lack belongs to the limited mind and ego, the "I"-thought.
• Analysis: Pure Awareness, as we have established, is infinite and changeless. Being infinite, it lacks nothing. Being changeless, it fears nothing. The very nature of a being that is already whole, complete, and secure is one of perfect contentment. Agitation and desire are temporary clouds (thoughts/feelings) that appear in the sky of Awareness. They are not the nature of the sky itself.
• Conclusion: When Awareness is not identified with the limited, changing mind, its own inherent nature is revealed as perfect peace and fullness. Therefore, Awareness is Bliss.

10. Prove: The Bliss is the Awareness.

• Premise: Can there be an experience without a consciousness of it?
• Inquiry: Imagine a state of perfect Bliss. If there were no awareness of it, it would be indistinguishable from deep, dreamless sleep or the state of an inanimate object. It would be functionally non-existent.
• Analysis: Bliss is the experience of fullness and peace. Experience, by its very definition, requires a conscious, knowing principle to whom it can occur.
• Conclusion: Ultimate Bliss cannot be an inert, unconscious state. It must be self-luminous and self-aware. This self-aware nature is Awareness. Therefore, Bliss is Awareness.

11. Prove: The Bliss is the Infinite.

• Premise: The root of suffering is the feeling of limitation.
• Inquiry: We feel sorrow because we identify with a finite body-mind that is vulnerable, separate, and incomplete.
• Analysis: Bliss is the very opposite of this sorrow. It is the experience of wholeness, freedom, and completeness. A finite entity, by its nature, is limited and incomplete, and thus cannot be the source of ultimate, unconditional Bliss.
• Conclusion: Only a state of unbounded, unlimited being can be the source of absolute fullness and freedom from lack. This state is the Infinite. Therefore, Bliss is the experience of one's own infinite nature.

12. Prove: The Infinite is the Bliss.

• Premise: Let us examine the inherent state of the Infinite.
• Inquiry: The Infinite is all that is. There is nothing outside of it.
• Analysis: Because it is everything, it lacks nothing. Because there is no "other," it wants for nothing and fears nothing. It is perfectly and eternally complete in itself.
• Conclusion: A state of absolute completeness, without any trace of lack, desire, or fear, is the very definition of perfect peace and contentment. This is Bliss. Therefore, the very nature of the Infinite is Bliss.

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Final Proof: One who is aware of such is the such itself.

This is the pinnacle of non-dual insight. "Such" refers to the reality we have just described: the Changeless, Infinite Awareness-Bliss.

• Premise 1: The "Such" (Reality) is Infinite and non-dual. This means there is no "second thing" other than it.
• Premise 2: In ordinary experience, there is a duality between the knower (subject) and the known (object). "I" (the knower) see "the tree" (the known).
• Inquiry: Can one be aware of the Infinite Reality as an object?
• Analysis: If a "knower" (a subject) were to be aware of the Infinite (as an object), this would immediately create a duality: the knower and the known. But this contradicts the fundamental nature of the Infinite, which is non-dual. If there is a separate knower looking at the Infinite, then the Infinite is not truly infinite, because it does not include the knower. This is a logical impossibility.
• Resolution: Therefore, the "knowing" of the Infinite cannot happen in the ordinary subject-object way. The only way the Infinite can be "known" is for the false separation between the knower and the known to dissolve.
• Conclusion: The act of becoming aware of this ultimate reality is the realization that the Awareness which you are is that reality. You do not perceive the Infinite; you realize you are the Infinite. The knower of "Such" merges into and is revealed to have always been "Such." Therefore, one who is aware of Such, is the Such itself.