Upadesa Saram - Post 28

Verse 25

वेषहानतः स्वात्मदर्शनम् |

ईशदर्शनं स्वात्मरूपतः || २५ ||

veṣahānataḥ svātmadarśanam |

īśadarśanaṁ svātmarūpataḥ || 25 ||

The abandonment of the assumed appearance is the revelation of one’s own Self.

The revelation of the Lord is the state of the nature of one’s own Self.

Removing the Conditionings 

Maharshi here says that when the limitations are removed, the Jivaatma which seems to be limited by the body and mind, and which seems to be in bondage realizes its own real nature of Self or Pure Consciousness. 

Self and God Are One 

The second and more important part of the verse is to assure us that this experience of our inner Self is no different from the much sought-after “Vision of the Lord” that spiritual seekers aspire for all over the world. There is no other experience that can go by this name. 

It seems that it is purely intended to put the mind of the seeker at rest so that he does not feel the restlessness of thinking that there is something greater still to be attained. Self-realization is the Vision of God – the final end of the spiritual journey. 

One should remember that what Maharshi and Vedanta wants to convey when it says that there is no real difference between Ishwara and Jiva, is that there is only one Consciousness which is absolute. 

It has no change, no qualifications, no limitations, no reflections because it is one without a second. There is nothing different from Consciousness so that it is limited or gets reflected. Therefore, there is really no difference between God and the individual and hence the difference is only an illusion created due to ignorance.

Vision of God 

What is usually conceived to be a ‘Vision” of God is the appearance of a form familiar to the seeker, a form he has been worshipping for long, which is his personal favorite deity. It may be Lord Rama or Krishna, Jesus or Buddha, or one’s Guru or any other Divine Being. Such experiences are not denied by this verse. They do happen in the spiritual realm. 

But the Maharshi, in keeping with His characteristic of being direct and to the point, says that the essential experience of the Vision of God is just what He has described here, Self-Realization. 

In Bhagavad Gita, when Arjuna asked Krishna to show His cosmic form, Krishna shows His cosmic form in which, the entire creation, including the battle field, including everyone else except Arjuna was found. Arjuna is frightened and asks Krishna to come back to His normal form.

Why Arjuna was frightened?? Because, Arjuna was separate and on the other side was the God, with everything else contained in Him.

Imagine, if only Arjuna had also found/experienced himself within Krishna, then would there be any fear? All fear, all agony is experienced by human being only till the time he considers himself separate from God.

The moment a person realizes that I am not the individual, but I am pure Consciousness, one without a second, of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute – that very moment the illusory jiva vanishes as limitations are broken off.

The great Narayana Sookta says,

“Yat cha kinchit jagat sarvam drishyathe srooyathe api va

Antar bahih cha tat sarvam vyaapya narayana sthithah”

"That whatever is present as the world which is seen and heard, it is pervaded internally and externally by Narayana, the ultimate Being of Brahman".

Here, 'external' and 'internal' means that there is no difference and no duality which again point out that the Self or Consciousness alone is everything.

Thus, what is required from the seeker is just little effort to contemplate, “I am not the body, but I am Consciousness, one without a second. There is nothing here but Consciousness alone. As there is no duality, then how come sorrow or delusion? – There is thus only Bliss, eternal Bliss”.

Dear All,

From verse 19 onwards, ever since we started going through the verses along with their commentary on SELF-ENQUIRY and SELF-KNOWLEDGE, we will find that it is the same one single truth which is spread over in all these verses. 

We are talking about just the few verses but believe him, all the 10 major and around 98 other upanishads, so many treatise on Vedanta given to the world of spiritual sadhakas by Adi Sankara, Dattatreya, Vidyaranya Swami etc. - all of them speak only of this single truth, The Essence - SAT-CHIT!

There is no school of knowledge anywhere in the history of mankind which is more direct, more conclusive and more convincing as the greatest treasure of our great Bharath - the Vedas and the Vedanta!

Love.