Miscellaneous - Religion   

Knowing the eternal Self

CHENNAI: In philosophical terms, awareness of one’s Self is termed knowledge and ignorance the lack of it. Human birth affords an exciting opportunity to explore the nature of the Self and thereby gain the highest knowledge that can liberate one from the cycle of birth.

In a lecture on Adi Sankara’s Kashi Panchakam, Swami Suddhananda drew attention to the awakening experienced in a realised soul who is able to recognise the strong thread of connectivity that runs through the entire universe cutting across the astonishing variety in creation. When this truth is internalised, not as a philosophical speculation but a conscious awareness, the ultimate knowledge of the Self begins to dawn in one’s consciousness. Such a Jnani sees the universe as making a strong statement celebrating differences amidst its oneness.

The truth is that each one is in the very midst of the universe and also inseparable from it; yet we are unable to feel connected to it, because of ignorance about the true nature of one’s Self. As long as we are conscious of the Self as an individual we are unable to feel connected.

The human body in which dwells the Self is sustained by the five elements (air, water, space, earth and fire) and is part of the macrocosmic universe. At death the body gets back into the elements. This body is not an individual’s possession but belongs to the elements. It is not how long one lives that is important but how well. We do not have a sense of bondage when we sleep. A similar freedom from bondage is possible to one who has realised the eternal Self.

King Bali’s gesture of offering three steps of land to the Almighty is representative of human ignorance and arrogance that claims to possess objects, places and people that do not belong to it. What is to be offered to God is the I who fails to recognise this connectivity.

The infinite range and variety in creation is a constant enigma waiting to be explored. Each species is unique. Einstein, who enunciated crucial laws of physics, humbly acknowledged that he had merely tried to probe some of the functions in the universe and wondered at the greatness of the person who was responsible for the laws and their functioning.

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