The non-conceptual Absolute and the conceptual Relative

You are the Formless (Niraakaaram) come in the form of Man (Naraakaaram), the Infinite, come in the role of the finite, the Formless Infinite appearing as the formful infinitesimal, the Absolute pretending to be the Relative, the Atma behaving as the body, the Metaphysical masquerading as the merely physical.

The Universal Self is the basis of all being.

The sky was there before houses were built under it; it penetrated and pervaded them for some time; then, the houses crumbled and became heaps and mounds; but, the sky was not affected at all. So too, the Atma pervades the body and subsists even when the body is reduced to dust.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

How to understand with the heart and not the mind? We automatically understand with the mind and intellect. If Baba tells we are the formless, he talks about a non-conceptual reality, but we call it anyhow formless and it is defined by the difference to that what we can perceive with the senses and therefore, conceptualize, the form.

It is like thin air, we cannot see it but we know it is there. The same with consciousness, we know it is there, but we have no real concept about it like with air.

How do we experience consciousness?


It is the universal self, but we don't perceive it with our senses, we can only observe it as reflection in our inner view and inner awarness. 

The sky was there before houses were built under it; it penetrated and pervaded them for some time; then, the houses crumbled and became heaps and mounds; but, the sky was not affected at all. So too, theAtma pervades the body and subsists even when the body is reduced to dust. 

 

The sky is non-conceptual because we cannot catch it with our mind, it is out of reach, but it is there, we live in it. 

It is possible to get the experience of the higher self, of God, of Sath and he is non-conceptual. It is the basis of Sath-Chith-Ananda. It is not outside of our own higher self, it is part of our experience, but it is not in the body, therefore, if 'we' think all day, I am not the body, not the body..., not that, in the end of the day there will be that question, who am I if I am not the body?
I am not the mind as well and the thoughts and I am not the intellect which tries to understand...

Who am I? 'Not that'.
In the end of that time, day, after practicing all day and getting aware of what we are not (all the concepts), we get aware of 'that', what is 'left'. We get aware of what we think we are..., (concepts) and what we really are, and that is different from our concepts, it is non-conceptual being. 
In getting constantly aware of what I am not, the concept of my thinking of it, in the end, what is left...? It is nothing but empty space around the body, in the body, below and above the body..., it is what is besides the body, (it is what I think I am, but I know I am not).

If we constantly practice neti, neti, neti... in the end of the day you will realize that all what is left is being... non-conceptual being if you are it. But in that moment when I think (here) and write about it here, it is a concept. It is the concept of neti, neti..., it can only be non-conceptual in the direct experience of it.

In practicing we get to that reality level Baba explains here in the thought for the day, he names it 'the sky'...
consciousness around us.
We get aware in our own awareness of the difference between conceptual and non-conceptual being, but it is experience, we are always in it and we are out of it, but it is never beyond our own consciousness, but it is not in the mind, it is pure awareness.

 

"Consciousness is all-pervading. It is within you, around you, below you, above you, and beside you.

Truly, it is you.
This Chaitanya is to be found everywhere, in everything in the world. But to realize it, the mind must be turned inwards. You must become inner-directed and search out your truth by realizing that you are not this, you are not that. 'Neti, neti, neti'.
You are not the mind, you are not the body, and you are not the intellect. Then who are you?' The answer comes, 'I am I….Aham.' This is the right path to follow for Self-realization."

Baba

link:  Sai Baba Advaita

If we meditate with a mantra and forget the mantra and the thoughts and everything, we are for some time unaware of time and space, that is non-conceptual being and also called transcendental awareness.
In the moment we get aware of thoughts, we are again in the mind and take again the mantra to transcend again.
It is the difference between the non-conceptual absolute we experience during meditation and the conceptual relative state of the mind.