When Gautama Buddha was asked, “Are you God?”, he replied, “No”. “Are you a godman?” Again negative. “Are you an ordinary mortal?” He calmly replied, “No, I am the unchanged elemental consciousness behind all the actions, reactions, thinking, feeling, and willing. I am the unmoved observer, self-liberated from the unending universal flux.” The core of his teaching takes us to the state of pure consciousness within the frame work of the body-mind complex.

The essence of his doctrine is that there is nothing in the universe which can be identified as ‘me’ or ‘mine’. There is neither a doer nor a sufferer, but merely a flow of phenomena. Hence, rise above the feeling of happiness and sorrow and be a witness to the universal flux.

Human suffering is an outcome of attachment; basically a reaction to perceptible reality. In case we remain in pure consciousness, the sensations, feelings and attachments will not be identified as ours but as merely part of passing phenomena. The meditation of mindfulness is intended to establish that consciousness in us.

The final stage concerns contemplation of the four noble truths namely, suffering, the root cause of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the end of suffering. Cessation of suffering occurs in a still mind free from the flame of desire. Therefore, cultivation of a still mind, not inert but actively aware of the happenings, is the key to great liberation.