Some people say that the self is a void. This is the opinion of the Maadhyamikaa Buddhists. They say that the knowledge of the I-I does not remain in deep sleep. Then what remains there? Nothing, since nothing in the form of I or this is known. Or, we an say that only emptiness or a void remains. When the waking state comes, the I-I arises from that void alone. Therefore, the self is the void alone, the foundation of knowledge.
If you ask - what is the nature of space? They say - this void is such a desert in which there is not one grain of sand, such a forest in which there is not one tree, such a fire in which there is no flame, such an ocean in which there is not one drop of water, such a space in which there is not pot, cloth or house.
In reality, the Buddhists consider this void to be "chatushkoti vinirmukta anirvachaneeya" or four-order-liberated-indescribable. Exists, does not exist, exists/does-not exist, does-not-exist/does-not-exist (asti, naasti, asti-naasti, naasti-naasti), this is four-order, and that which is free of these is the void self.
Bhagavaan Shankaraachaarya asks - is there a witness of this void-nature self or not? If not, then the void is imaginary. "I am a void" - such an experience does not happen to anyone. "I am" thought-flow-knowledge in waking, and the absence of this thought-flow in deep sleep cannot be witnessed by the void, it has to be an aware entity. Therefore void is not the self.
The afore-mentioned body, senses. mind, intellect and void cannot be the Upanishad-revealed self for one more reason. The shruti reveals the "you" aspect self as the "that" aspect brahman. All the afore-mentioned entities are not qualified for identifying with the "that" aspect (Ishvara brahman).
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