Miscellaneous - Religion   

Identity of the Self

CHENNAI: The basis of spiritual experience is unshakable faith and the Supreme Self is realised purely through intuitive perception as an inner reality and cannot be known through reason, argument or one’s senses. Though the Upanishads describe the Supreme Brahman as pure consciousness and without attributes (Nirguna Brahman), in the Bhagavad Gita it is made clear that the Lord makes Himself accessible to the Jivatma by assuming different forms with auspicious attributes (Saguna Brahman), pointed out Sri N. Veezhinathan in a lecture. This is to enable the Jivatma to know and worship the Lord. Meditation on the Supreme Brahman is necessary for Bhakti to flower in one’s consciousness and this alone can lead to Jnana, for the path of Bhakti is a sure route to salvation.

The Jivatma is not aware of the bliss of salvation because of ignorance. Disbelief in Sastras is manifested as belief in the truth of this tangible world. The greatest hurdle in the path of God realisation is the sense of I and Mine that pervades the Jivatma’s consciousness. The Jivatma falls into the cycle of birth by identifying itself with the world, believing itself to be the agent performing actions and enjoying worldly objects and pleasures. The Jivatma thinks that “I am the body”. The mind is the cause of this delusion. Even though these truths are repeatedly stressed, the Jivatma doubts, distrusts and argues against the Vedas.

The Lord explains that He who sees the Atma as the immortal aspect of one’s existence can discriminate between the ephemeral and the permanent. It is His divine Sankalpa that is manifest in the entire universe and so all the world rests in Him. Yet, He is not in any part of it. So though it is the Lord who gives the entire universe existence, names, forms, tendencies, etc., the Jivatma sees only the tangible world and fails to understand the truth of God’s creation. When the Jivatma understands this profound truth and its own inherent divine nature, it gets release from the bondage of Samsara. This knowledge will be instrumental in removing all cause of sorrow. In worldly terms what appears as happiness is actually a sorrow laden one.

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