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Man's true identity

CHENNAI : As long as a person is attached to the objects of sensory gratification, he cannot experience his true nature — the Self (Atman). Spiritual progress primarily involves developing dispassion (Vairagya) towards the world. How does one develop detachment? Only by seeing its shortcomings because attachment makes one see only the virtues and not its negative side. Man engages in the world with his ego (Ahamkara), — the `I' responsible for his individuality — which makes him identify with his body-mind-intellect personality instead of with the Self.

In his discourse on the Yoga Vasishta, which is in the form of a dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Rama, Sri Mani Dravid Sastrigal said man's worldly identity was an amalgamation of the Self and the ego, and they were not apparent to experience distinctly. A spiritual seeker must therefore learn to distinguish them as separate entities during spiritual exercise. It is the ego that gives a person the feeling of individuality and also plurality in the world though the Self is an inseparable whole. This can be tested from human experience also. As the Self is all- pervasive, one should have the same feeling of love towards all but it is not so in actual experience. Even the love one feels towards a person is not constant as it can turn into animosity later. So the feeling of love or hatred arises in the mind due to Ahamkara.

It is this truth that Sage Yajnavalkya taught his wife Maitreyi when he said, "Not indeed for the love of all is all dear. But, for the love of the Self is all dear." When Vasishta expounded on the need for detachment, Rama expressed the fear that the bond between the ego and the Self seemed to become stronger instead of weakening. The spiritual seeker must understand the reason for this, as it is the key to his salvation. Attachment is due to ignorance of one's spiritual nature. Ego is the fundamental cause of illusion about one's identity and this in turn results in the assertion, `I am', the consequence of which is the feeling of `mine' towards relations and objects. The Self is untainted by this superimposition. Why do the Self and ego appear as one entity and not distinct? Just as one does not perceive the fire, which is responsible for the heat in hot water, so also the ego is evident to experience and not the Self.

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