Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

there is a principle which is aware of all this, and then
also is aware of all this passing away into ignorance.
Consciousness and the lack of consciousness, with the
disappearance of consciousness, are both seen as not
touching that basic principle of Sentience which
witnesses both, which is prior to both, which is prior to
consciousness and unconsciousness.
This is what Siddharameshwar, Nisargadatta, and
Robert mean by “Para-Brahman.” This is the state
beyond states, Turiyatta, or the Absolute, or the
Witness, which in Zen is called the Unborn. This
“state” is not a state because it is entirely beyond
existence. The term “state” belongs to consciousness
and the Absolute is beyond consciousness, as if in a
different dimension of non-existence, like the universe
before the Big Bang.
This is yet a further understanding, a refinement of
your spiritual intelligence, a final growing up.
The entirety of the hundred or thousand room
mansion of spiritual experience rests on this
Sentience. Without this underlying principle there
would be no awareness of anything, not of Self or of
the world.
At first you hear this truth as expressed by
Siddharameshwar, Nisargadatta and by me. After a
while you begin to feel it is true. After a while you