Miscellaneous - Religion   

Knowing the Self

CHENNAI: The Upanishads teach us the way to transcend sorrow by revealing the highest truth (Brahma Tatva). There is no dogma in the teachings and the method of question and answer by way of clearing doubts encourages the seeker not to go by blind beliefs. The Upanishads teach the Jivatma the way to peace and relief from sorrow by pointing out the root cause of it as Samsara and showing the means of getting out of it as well, said Sri N.V. Deviprasad in a lecture. It is ignorance (Avidya) that has to be removed so that Jnana (knowledge of one’s self) enables one to experience the Self. Gaining an experience of the unchanging and immortal Self is difficult for a Jivatma because one is constantly exposed to change and differences. An individual fails to understand the real Self because one’s mind is fickle, restless and under the compulsive effect of Maya. Scriptures suggest the practice of Yagas, Upasanas (spiritual disciplines), etc., as an antidote to the distracting effects that the mind is subject to.

The Isavasya Upanishad speaks of the entire world being pervaded by the Lord and the implication is that one has to cultivate the Bhava that the entire universe is God’s possession and that we are permitted to live in this world through God’s grace. One has to utilise the brief spell of human birth for realising the Supreme Being and not get drawn into the materialistic world. It urges the individual to renounce the world, to renounce the sense of I and Mine that one attaches to the objects, places and persons of this world. The desire for wealth and family has to be relinquished for as long as this desire persists, one is opting out of the chance to get liberated. Wealth is full of sorrow. One spends much effort to gain wealth and greater effort to protect it. It brings along with it fear and it is an irony that people seek fear. Such desires for worldly things make us thrive in this situation just as germs get used to living in poison and do not get killed.

In the Mahabharata, Drona acknowledges that it was his own fault that made him a servant of Hastinapura when he had to fight on the side of Adharma. Wealth easily makes a slave of man, while it is not a slave to anyone.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Cartoonscape
The Hindu Crossword No. 9208
Solution No. 9207
Knowing the Self
dated April 26, 1958: Non-violence
dated April 26, 1958: Naval aviation
dated April 26, 1958: Development schemes
Weather

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu