Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

did not know anything for a while. This is called
“knowing ignorance.”
In other words, we are aware that sometimes we
are not aware, not self-aware, nor aware of the world.
Then at other times, consciousness appears, existence
appears, phenomena appear. This is what Nisargadatta
calls “knowledge.” The phenomenal world, its
appearance, he calls knowledge.
Then he says, there is a principle in us that is
aware or awareness, and also is aware of not being
aware at times. The way he puts it is there is a
principal in us that recognizes knowledge and the
absence of knowledge or ignorance. There is in us a
principle which recognizes consciousness, and then the
disappearance of consciousness.
This is something you must study profoundly. You
must become deeply aware yourself, of that principle
which is there before consciousness arrives, is there
while consciousness is present, and is there when
consciousness leaves, and this consciousness is
knowledge of existence of the world and all other
levels of inner awareness, as well as the leaving of
awareness. Siddharameshwar and Nisargadatta call
this the supra-causal body, or the ‘I Am’, which is also
known as Turiya, or the fourth state.