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Intense seeking for truth

CHENNAI: The common refrain in the Upanishads is the belief that one who knows the Supreme Brahman becomes immortal. The acceptance of the nature of the Supreme Brahman is based on explorations into the nature of the Highest Reality and the method of enquiry is more matter-of-fact than dogmatic. This Brahman is believed to be one who, while remaining one and the same, by His power rules “all the worlds during their manifestation and continued existence.” This Brahman is the sole creator of all beings, dwells in each and every one of them and finally takes them into His Self at the time of dissolution. His all pervading grandeur is thus manifest in the entire creation, with faces everywhere, and with arms, feet, etc, in practically all directions and space. This awe inspiring form which is perceived in transcendental and cosmic proportions is an assertion of His all pervasiveness.

There is much to be learnt from the Rishis and seers who received these ideas as revelations during their meditation, said Swami Atmashraddhananda in a lecture. For instance, in the Svetasvatara Upanishad, the Rishi’s prayer to Siva, who is the embodiment of auspiciousness, typifies the essence of what one has to seek through prayer. Prayer is shown to be an intense seeking for the ultimate truth, and the individual is guided in this exercise.

What matters is what is sought from whom and how it is sought and the mantra clarifies these very succinctly. The all pervasive, all knowing and all powerful God is the person from whom one seeks and what is sought is the grace by which one’s ignorance is removed and the intensity of the prayer is based on the desire to overcome ignorance. Let not the thunderbolt in the Lord’s hand destroy the individual, but let it destroy the force that harms us, Avidya, which is the cause of separation from the ultimate reality.

Scriptures speak of the six enemies of man that place a distance between us and the divine in us. These are — desire(Kama), anger(Krodha), greed(Lobha), delusion(Moha), arrogance(Madha) and jealousy(Matsarya), and have to be fought and removed. The prayer to the Lord is to destroy the ignorance that prevents us from seeking Him.

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