Atma Bodha - Post 5

O Atma Swarupas, 

Like any upanishad chanting / commentary starts with a shanti path or an invocation prayer, Atma Bodha usually has the following invocation prayer composed by Adi Sankara.

प्रातः स्मरामि हृदि संस्फुरदात्मतत्त्वं

सच्चित्सुखं परमहंसगतिं तुरीयम् ।

यत्स्वप्नजागरसुषुप्तिमवैति नित्यं

तद्ब्रह्म निष्कलमहं न च भूतसङ्घः 

PRÁTAH SMARÁMI HRUDI SAMSPHURAD ÁTMA TATTVAM

SAT CHIT SUKHAM PARAMA HAMSA GATIM TURIYAM

YAT SVAPNA JÁGARA SUSSUPTAM AVAITI NITYAM

TAD BRAHMA NISKALAM AHAM NA CHA BHUTA SAÑGHA.

At the early hours of the day, I meditate upon the essential SELF, clearly experienceable in the heart cave AS THE ESSENCE (TATWAM),

-That which is Existence, Knowledge and Bliss in nature,

-That which is the supreme goal, the Parama hamsa state,

-That which is the fourth state of consciousness (Turiyam),

-That which illumines all experiences in all the three state of consciousness, waking, dreaming and deep sleep.

- That which is that part less Brahman, not this assembly of matter envelopments!

Commentary

Like my heart throb every moment, along with every heart beat, let me experience clearly in my heart, the reality:- That is SATH (Pure Existence), CHIT (Pure awareness) SUKHAM (Pure Bliss).

That is Parama hamsa, the goal of all sages. (Parama saham Aham)

(Parama hamsa is also explained in the context of the Hamsa Bird, which has the capacity to segregate water from milk, takes in only the milk and discards the water. That is, the attainment of the state where, one is clearly able to discriminate between the real and the unreal and discard the real and embrace only the real)

That which is the Turiya state or the 4th state of consciousness, as clearly explained in mandukya upanishad, the state of pure awareness, existence, consciousness.

That which illumines all the other three states of consciousness - waking, dream state and deep sleep.

(The three states of consciousness and the fourth state, Turiya, have been dealt with elaborately in this blog under the theme "Vedas and Vedanta". The link to that post is given below

https://journey-deep-within.blogspot.com/search?q=states+of+consciousness

Readers may please use the above link and read about the 2 states of consciousness explained in a simple manner)

That is part less, indivisible Brahman and not the mere matter which my body, mind appears to be, at the surface level!!

What a positive, wonderful prayer in the early hours even before we start our day, asserting with conviction, what we really are, so that, we remember the same through out the day and not end up believing about ourselves what we really are not!!

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 4

Dear All,

Let us go through few questions and answer on the subject "ATMAN" in this post.

Satsang with Sri Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

Question

Do all living beings have an Atman? Are all living things interconnected because of Atman?

Answer

Yes, all living beings have an Atman. Atman is the essence, the core, the very truth, and the very being of all living beings. Atman is saccidänanda and is present everywhere. It is not that everything has Atman. Rather, Atman is everything. 

Do not separate Atman from things. It is not that I have a self; rather, I am the Self. All that exists is but the manifestation of Atman and, therefore, everything is interconnected; everything is one. The many things that we see are the manifestation of the One. 

The one Atman manifests as all beings, sentient and insentient, and living and non-living. All are manifestations of this one Self just as all ornaments are manifestations of gold, or all waves are manifestations of water. 

Everything in creation is the manifestation of the one Self, Atman. Atman is present everywhere and is the connecting link. All beings spring from the Self, and that is why we have order or harmony that connects or sustains everything. This very order or harmony is Atman, which sustains everything.

Question

The Self is dear to me. Who is this ‘me’?

Answer

The Upanishad states that anything that I hold dear, is dear to me because the Self is dear to me. Whatever is important to me in this life is because the Self is important. The Upanishads simply say, everything is dear to me for my own sake. Another treatise raises the question of this ‘me’. It is explained that the ‘me’ can have three meanings: it could be mukhya or important, it could be gauna or secondary, or it could be mithyä or false.

For example, I may be so attached to my child that I am prepared to do anything for the sake of that child, even to the extent of giving up my life. Similarly, there are people who love their country so much that they are willing to give up their lives for their country. In these cases, there is a strong identification with something other than the Self. 

Therefore, even in the awareness that the child or the country is not the ‘I’, the identification with it is so complete that the child or the country becomes very ‘I’ to which I am strongly attached.

More often than not, the ‘me’ is my body, this upädhi or personality, which is not the real me. Out of ignorance, however, I identify completely with it, and it becomes me.

Finally, in the true sense, the ‘me’ is my Self. The Self is that which is separate from the three bodies, the gross, subtle, and causal bodies; it transcends the five koshas, notions, and is witness to the three states of awareness, the waking, dream, and deep sleep states. The nature of this Self is saccidänanda. Thus, the true ‘me’ or ‘I’, is saccidänanda or Brahman.

In the sense if it being mithyä or false, the ‘me’ is this body, and in the sense of it being gauna or secondary, it is yet another thing with which I identify, e.g., my child or my country.

Thus, the meaning of ‘me’ keeps changing in different situations. One thing, however, is certain: whatever I look upon or identify with as being ‘me’ or the essential ‘I’ is my primary equation and dearest to me. Every other association, everything else, becomes secondary.

Question

How are Atman and paramätmä related? Answer

Answer

Atman is the Self of the individual being and is usually understood to be the essential ‘I’.

‘Param’ means that which is free from limitations. Paramätmä means the Self that is free from limitations. It is the limitless Self and, usually, we say that it is the Self of the universe. 

Thus, Atman is the individual Self and Paramätmä is the universal Self. It looks like these are two different entities, but Vedanta teaches that both are one. Atman, the individual self, is the Self of all and Paramätmä, the universal Self, is my own Self.

  

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 3

Dear All,

Let us recapitulate one more post which was covered under the theme "Creation of the Universe" as well as "Vedas and Vedanta". 

This post will directly explain what ATMAN is and what BRAHMAN is; which will be very useful as we are entering into the new theme which is all about knowledge of ATMAN or SELF KNOWLEDGE.

Now, to the post which is the essence of chapter 6 of Panchadasi by Sri Vidyaranya.

PURE CANVASS AND DRAWINGS 

Let us visualize a strange situation in the context of the Pure canvas – Starched canvas - Outline of drawings - Inking of drawings and completed drawings appearing on the canvas or a motion show running on the movie screen.

We are seated away from the screen in both cases and we see drawings / human beings of so many different dimensions - some short, some tall, some thin, some fat, some beautiful, some ordinary, some ugly, etc.

Suppose, imagine, a miracle happens and we, at that instant, travel and sit on the canvas ourselves.

What will happen?

Seated on the canvas, how will we be able to see the other varied objects on the canvas? It is impossible because there is no space / no distance between us and the other drawings and the eyes cannot see itself, the eyes can only see things to our right / to our left / in front of us / above us / below us. It cannot see itself, it cannot see anything which exist as itself on the screen, with no space between it and the other drawings.

Correct?

This imagination takes us directly to the highest philosophy, highest truth which is pregnant in all the 100+ Upanishads.

What is the highest truth which follows the above imagination?

·       The pure canvass is Brahman which is referred as Purusha in Panchadasi and Purushottama in Bhagvad Gita.

·       All the fallacies, all the issues, all the karmas are faced by us only because WE EXIST AWAY, AS A SEPARATE IDENTITY, AS MR. SO AND SO, FROM THE PURE CANVASS, FROM  BRAHMAN, FROM GOD.

·       Existing away from God (avidya and asmita) as explained in MBCA, we are seeing / perceiving all drawings, the varied creations, good people, bad people, beautiful people, ugly people, good things, bad things etc. and are disturbed seeing this variety.

·       As per our ego (attachment / hatred), we deal with different human beings, different things perceived by us, standing away from God.

·       GO, MERGE, SIT ON THE SCREEN YOURSELF!!
(Go towards God through spiritual sadhana, merge in God in the climax of your sadhana and exist as God yourself)

·       If you have merged with the screen / God, then how will you see other things / diversities in the canvass / world?

Now, for the ONLY truth which follows from the above, which is the theme / essence of vedantha.

·       The pure canvass is the universal consciousness / absolute consciousness which is referred to as Purusha or Brahman or Paramatman in vedantha.

·       You, the one who have occupied a portion of the canvass is referred to as JIVA.

·       The portion of the pure canvass which has been occupied by you is the individual consciousness or Atman or Jivatma.

·       When, in Sadhana, undertaken with intense craving for God realization (Mumukshatva in vedantha), a day or THE DAY arrives when you have totally discarded your identity with your body, mind, intellect, ego then what happens?

·       The discarding of your identity is to be understood as erasing your identity which is sitting on the pure canvass, occupying a portion of the pure canvass.

·       What happens when your physical identity seated on the canvass is erased?

·       Is it not that the portion of the pure canvass on which you had super imposed your physical identity, GOT FREE??

·       This erasing of your identity is FREEDOM OR MOKSHA.

·       The arrested portion of the pure canvass on which you had super imposed yourself, getting free now, is ATMAN or JIVATMAN

·       With the portion on which you had  been existing on the canvass getting free, it has now regained its original free existence and post erasing, there is no difference between that portion and the other area of the pure canvass. 

·       This non difference explained above is MERGER OF JIVATMAN WITH PARAMATMAN, Merger of Atman with Brahman, Merger of your individual consciousness with absolute, universal consciousness.

Love.