QUALIFICATIONS?

   Liberation from the ego-notion, self-realization, self-knowledge, Avadhut, and several other descriptive terms and phrases denote a condition of mind in which the truth is to be known.   In several traditional approaches there have been several duties to be performed which have been determined to be helpful qualifications that support and advance the quest for knowledge of the truth. These can be roughly listed as duty, devotion, preliminary study, thoughtful reflection, meditation, dispassion, indifference, virtue, concentration, wisdom, discrimination, yearning, faith, tranquility, and many other terms that indicate stepping-stones to advancement in preparation and achievement of the goal.   Of first importance at a higher level of advancement, after the preliminary preparatory phases have become well established, is the developing ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal, the true from the false.   Within this subject is found also discrimination between the state of pure witnessing consciousness and the functions of mind.   This is important in attaining a capacity to be able to turn away from the activities of desire based on the egoistic motivations.   Patient endurance of suffering, pain, misery, sorrow, and frustration is important and gets easier when we understand the temporary nature of all relative phenomena.  Only those who have become firm in prerequisite qualifications can actually approach getting any meaningful understanding through knowledge.  Only knowledge can defeat ignorance.