Atma Bodha - Post 46

Verse 36 (This is What I Am)

नित्यशुद्धविमुक्तैकमखण्डानन्दमद्वयम् ।

सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं यत्परं ब्रह्माहमेव तत् ॥ ३६॥

NITYA, SHUDDHA, VIMUKTAIKAM,

AKHANDA-AANANDAM ADVAYAM

SATYAM JNAANAM ANANTAM YAT

PARAM BRAHMA AHAM EVA TAT

[Eternal, pure, ever-liberated and One, indivisible Bliss, and non-dual Existence, Knowledge and Infinite; I am verily that Supreme Brahman.]

“AHAM” is again the key word in this verse.

NITHYA SHUDDHAM:  I am ever pure. I am not affected by the impurities of the dualities like sukha, dukha at any time.

VIMUKTHAHA:  I am always liberated and free - in the past, the present or the future.

EKAM: I am the one and the only one without a second.

AKHANDAM: I have no parts or divisions and I cannot be divided into any such individual parts. The Anaatma has several parts. Sareeram has many parts. Mind has many parts. But, I, the Atma, am division-less.

AANANDAM: I am the eternal Bliss. I have no inadequacies. I do not miss anything. I do not have any regrets. When any thing comes into my life or goes out of my life, it creates no ripples in me. I am the aanandam, the eternal bliss

ADVAYAM:  I am one without a second.  I am all pervading, including the Sareera Thrayam and the world. I am the cause of every thing. Everything is merely my reflection and is Mithya. I am therefore the only one without a second.

SATHYAM, JNANAM, ANANTHAM BRAHMA:  This is again the definition of Brahma. Sathyam means Pure Existence. Death, Pralayam etc does not affect my existence – but only of the Sareera thrayam and the external world. JNANAM means - I am pure consciousness. ANANTHAM means - I am beginning-less and end-less but is infinite in time and space.

YATH PARAM BRAHMA: The one with these characteristics is the PARAM BRAHMA (Supreme Brahma).

AHAM YEVA THATH: I am that Param Brahma. I AM THE ABSOLUTE, INFINITE BRAHMAN.

Again an assertion is made as to who we really are. And again we have nine qualities painted before us in a panorama of exquisite beauty.

To contemplate on these thoughts is the way to directly experience the Self. This concludes the Nididhyasana or meditation upon the Self. In the process, we have unearthed the richest of spiritual treasure.

The Brahma Nishtha sage drinks his fill of these qualities as though they are nectar to him. Since beginning the quest for perfection from verse 30, starting with the doctrine of negation, we have completed all the three Lakshanas or definitions or pointers to the Self. This verse gives the final, Swaroopa Lakshana, the direct pointer to the Self by telling us what It actually is.

Satyam, Jnaanam, Anantam:

This is a very familiar Upanishadic statement appearing in the Taittiriya Upanishad, and dealt with in great detail in Sankara Bhashya on that Upanishad. Here, Sri Sankara repeats the words as they are the most eloquent expression to describe the nature of the Self.

This Taittriya Upanishad verse gave the complete expression on “BRAHMAN” for the first time, with the clarity found in very few Upanishad verses. The verse says,

TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD | 2.1.1 |

OM! brahmavidapnoti param | tadesa'bhyukta | satyam jnanamanantam brahma | yo veda nihitam guhayam parame vyoman | so'snute sarvan kaman saha | brahmana vipasciteti || tasmadva etasmadatmana akasah sambhutah | akasadvayuh | vayoragnih | agnerapah | adbhyah prthivi | prthivya osadhayah | osadhibhyo'nnam | annatpurusah | sa va esa puruso'nnnarasamayah | tasyedameva sirah | ayam daksinah paksah | ayamuttarah paksah | ayamatma | idam puccham pratistha | tadapyesa sloko bhavati || 2.1.1 ||

(OM! The knower of Brahman attains the highest. Here is a verse uttering that very fact: “Brahman is truth, knowledge, and infinite. One who knows that Brahman as existing in the intellect which is lodged in the supreme space in the heart, enjoys, in identification with the all-knowing Brahman, all desirable things simultaneously. "

From that Brahman indeed, which is the Self, was produced space. From space emerged air. From air was born fire. From fire was created water. From water sprang up earth. From earth were born the herbs. From the herbs was produced food. From food was born the human. That human, such as one is, is a product of the essence of food. Of one this indeed , is the head , this is the southern (right) side; this is the northern (left) side ; this is the Self ; this is the stabilizing tail.)

Sathyam affirms Brahman by negating non-existence; Jnaanam affirms It by negating inertness; and Anantam affirms It by negating incompleteness. In this way we have the most comprehensive description of the nature of the Supreme Truth.

This one expression “Sathyam Jnanam Anantam” is sufficient and complete in itself for contemplation, meditation and absorption and the subjective experience of Brahman / Atman, within the cave of a sadhaka’s heart!!!!

The session on this one expression taken by the Author is a very elaborate one and it spreads to more than 3 hours as it is a verse which is the essence of all Upanishads.

Love.