Miscellaneous - Religion   

Self-knowledge

CHENNAI: The Upanishads deal with spiritual knowledge, which is described as “that knowledge knowing which everything else becomes known.” The Self (Brahman, Atman) is eternal, and knowledge of the Self removes ignorance, which is the cause of bondage. It is due to ignorance that a person identifies with his body-mind-intellect personality, which is limited, and transposes that onto the “I” (self-identity) without knowing his eternal spiritual nature.

In her discourse, Swamini Satyavratananda said that in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad a discussion among spiritual seekers ensued after learning that the Self had become all. They questioned, “Through the knowledge of Brahman we shall become all. Well, what did that Brahman know by which It became all?” It is possible to ask if Brahman became all without knowing anything, then let it be the same with others too; what then is the use of the knowledge of Brahman? On the other hand, if Brahman became all by knowing something, then Its identity with everything as a result of the knowledge becomes a product of that knowledge, which is like the result of any other action, and hence it will not be eternal. Besides there will be an infinite regress if one probes what was that “something” other than Brahman. If, on the contrary, it is reasoned that Brahman did not become all without knowing something, this will contradict the scriptures.

The doubt that will arise in the statement that “Brahman became everything by knowing Itself” is: How can the subject know the subject (itself)? By experience everyone knows that the process of gaining any knowledge involves a subject (the knower) and an object (the known). So, is gaining Self-knowledge impossible? The Upanishad clarifies how this paradox can be resolved by the word “became” in that statement as it indicates a process. Then it states: “This (Self) was indeed Brahman in the beginning. It knew only Itself as, ‘I am Brahman.’ Therefore It became all.” Before the rise of Self-knowledge Brahman appears as the limited self but after ignorance is dispelled the non-dual Self shines in its infinite splendour and this doubt is resolved.

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