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Any buffer zone — may it be मन्त्र • a mántra, that “instrument of thought,” ओम मन्त्र, the practice of 坐禪, Ησυχασμός, mindfulness (स्मृति smṛti), etcetera — can be regarded as a sine qua non-mean to the ultimate end of awareness or could be considered as just one more alibi, a pure hindrance or a delay factor that impedes the individuation, the abolishment of the impression, of the feel of a division.

Because, as humans, we share and are part of the evolution, we tend to process progress linearly whereas, as non-dual entities, we could perform by rote (cf. RAM's definition in this occurrence) and skip the intermediate steps.

Do we not enjoy lingering, fooling or hanging around or just loitering — 道可道 (putting off ways)?

Dream of the Unicorn, Boris Indrikoff

Am I this or that? And have we not "The Great Sayings" महावाक्यानि, the mahāvākyāni of उपनिषद् the Upaniṣad, as characterized by अद्वैत वेदान्त: Advaita Vedānta, to reaffirm our indivision, that we are forever unseparable — statements interpreted as supporting the insight that the individual self (जीव jiva) which appears as a separate existence, is — in essence (आत्मान atman) part and the manifestation of the whole (ब्राह्मण Brahman)?

Reminder:

• तत् त्वम् असि tát tvam ási — traditionally rendered as "Thou art that," "That thou art," "That art thou," "You are that," "That you are," or "You're it," (that you are, or more properly  "that's how you are"), (छान्दोग्योपनिषद्: Chāndogyopaniṣad 6.8.7 of the  सामवेद: sāmaveda, with तत्त्व tat in Ch.U.6.8.7 referring to सत्य sat, "the Existent"); correctly translated as "That's how [thus] you are," with tat in Ch.U.6.12.3 referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by [the finest essence]"
• अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi — "I am Brahman", or "I am Divine" (बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.10 of the यजुर्वेद, yajurveda)
• प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म Prajnanam Brahma — "प्रज्ञा ब्रह्म है Prajñāna is Brahman", or "Brahman is Prajñāna" (ऐतरेय उपनिषद् Aitareyopaniṣad 3.3 of the  ऋग्वेद ṛgveda)
• अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म Ayam Atma Brahma — "This Self (Atman) is Brahman ह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म" (माण्डूक्य उपनिषद्, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 1.2 of the अथर्ववेदः, Atharvavedaḥ)

पूर्वफाल्गुनी सरस्वती pūrvaphālgunī Sárasvatī dreams

(corresponding to δ and θ Leonis in the Leo constellation)

Painting by Boris Indrikov