Hindu Article-Man's true identity

[Guest guest]

Man's true identity

 

 

 

CHENNAI : As long as a person is attached to the objects of sensory

gratification, he cannot experience his true nature — the Self

(Atman). Spiritual progress primarily involves developing dispassion

(Vairagya) towards the world. How does one develop detachment? Only

by seeing its shortcomings because attachment makes one see only the

virtues and not its negative side. Man engages in the world with his

ego (Ahamkara), — the `I' responsible for his individuality — which

makes him identify with his body-mind-intellect personality instead

of with the Self.

 

In his discourse on the Yoga Vasishta, which is in the form of a

dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Rama, Sri Mani Dravid Sastrigal

said man's worldly identity was an amalgamation of the Self and the

ego, and they were not apparent to experience distinctly. A spiritual

seeker must therefore learn to distinguish them as separate entities

during spiritual exercise. It is the ego that gives a person the

feeling of individuality and also plurality in the world though the

Self is an inseparable whole. This can be tested from human

experience also. As the Self is all- pervasive, one should have the

same feeling of love towards all but it is not so in actual

experience. Even the love one feels towards a person is not constant

as it can turn into animosity later. So the feeling of love or hatred

arises in the mind due to Ahamkara.

 

It is this truth that Sage Yajnavalkya taught his wife Maitreyi when

he said, "Not indeed for the love of all is all dear. But, for the

love of the Self is all dear." When Vasishta expounded on the need

for detachment, Rama expressed the fear that the bond between the ego

and the Self seemed to become stronger instead of weakening. The

spiritual seeker must understand the reason for this, as it is the

key to his salvation. Attachment is due to ignorance of one's

spiritual nature. Ego is the fundamental cause of illusion about

one's identity and this in turn results in the assertion, `I am', the

consequence of which is the feeling of `mine' towards relations and

objects. The Self is untainted by this superimposition. Why do the

Self and ego appear as one entity and not distinct? Just as one does

not perceive the fire, which is responsible for the heat in hot

water, so also the ego is evident to experience and not the Self.

 

copy right: the Hindu-daily