SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA----108

[Guest guest]

Loving Sai Rams,

(continued from posting no.107)

 

The Upanishads call the all-pervading spiritual reality by the name of Atman which is the self of all, the 'within' and 'without' of things. The Upanishads have also discovered the entity of 'within' and 'without' in a a reality ,which as Brahman-Atman is both immanent and transcendent. The Bhagavad Gita states, " It exists without and within all beings and constitute the animate and inanimate creation as well. By the reason of Its subtelety, It is incomprehensible. It is close at hand and stands afar too. (Bahirantacha Bhutanam acharam charameva cha Sookshmatvat Avigneyam Doorastham chaantike cha tat). The Isa Upanishad states, " It moves and it does not move; it is far and near too. It is withinthis as well without the entire creation " (Tat ejati tat na ejati doore tat tat antike tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasya asya baahyatah). The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares, " This Great Being is endless without any limit. It is a mass of Consciousness only. " (Idam Mahatbhootam anantam aparam vigjnanaghana eva). The very same fact is echoed by Mahanarayana Upanishad when it says, " The indwelling Divine (Narayana) exists pervading all things, externally and internally. (Antar bahischa tat sarvam vyapya narayana sthitah). In fact,the very opening Mantra of Isavasya Upanishad proclaims that " the Divine Reality envelops everything in this changing universe " .(Isavasyam idam yatkincha jagatyam jagat).

 

 

The Upanishads ask us to look deeper so that we can see the deathless in the midst of death, the changeless in the midst of changing, the one in the midst of many. This is the message of the Upanishads, the message of the immortal and imperishable Self behind the mortal and perishable. In the Kathopanishad,Yama, the teacher, brings the Atma close to us and exhorts us to find our peace in the Atma. The meaning of the relevant mantra is, " The eternal among non-eternals,the Intelligence among the intelligent, who though one fulfills the desires of many;those Dheeras who perceive Atma as existing within their own self, to them belongs eternal peace and to none else " . (Nityo-anityanam chetanah chetananam Eko bahuunam yo vidadhati kaman Tam Atmastham yeanupasyanti Dheeraah tesham santih saswati na itaresham).

 

The above declaration of Sruti should be understood to mean that eternal happiness and eternal peace belong to that heroic soul who realizes the Atma which is the very Self of man, which is also the Self of the Universe. Experience of Brahman-Atman is total and absolute. It needs to be understood that even the finite joys of the world are part of the infinite experience. The world and its enjoyments are, therefore, not left out in the experience of Brahman. The all-embracing total bliss experience on Self-Realaization includes our existing joys as well.

 

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian