Swami teaches... Atma Vidya

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (23 February 2005)

 

Atma Vidya

"As the ruler (Raja), so the ruled (Praja)," says the proverb. "As the

teacher, so the pupil" seems to be equally true. The person who is an expert in

chemistry or physics may not know as much of biology as an expert in that

science. But there is every need for them all to be friendly and work as a

team. Whatever the science one specialises in, the science of the spirit, the

science that leads to the ultimate Truth has to be mastered to all experts of

different sciencies.

Everything has energy latent in it - a piece of paper has it, a strip of

cloth has it. When the latent energy is exhausted, death results; when energy

fills, birth happens. Sath-Chith-Ananda is energy. We (Sath) are (chith) happy

(ananda). Energy is all and energy is derived from God. It is the basis. The

most scientists are building superstructures somewhere else, not on the basis.

We are fascinated by subjects and studies that promise to feed our stomachs and

make us materially happy and powerful. But the hard truth is the Divine beneath

all. One must either know the supreme Truth of the One Being behind all Becoming

or at least know the practical Truth of Love and Brotherhood.

World problems are now assuming stranger forms and larger proportions. They

are global, affecting all mankind. On one side, science and technology are

advancing with cosmic developments. Through plastics, electronics and computer

technologies, the wonder has reached even greater heights. On the other side,

mankind is afflicted with recurring political and economic crises, national,

provincial, religious, racial and caste rivalries, narrow loyalties and

outbursts of disturbance in student campuses.

This is an unbalanced and mutually contradictory situation. Human's mind is

degenerating in the ethical, spiritual and religious fields of life,

continuously and with great speed.

People have now become more vicious than ever. Hatred, envy, greed, desire

for pompous display and for comparison and competition with others - these evil

traits have to be uprooted. These traits are vitiating even ascetics, monks,

heads of religious institutions, and pundits. Among these, envy and greed have

grown wild. When these masters and preceptors, who project themselves as

embodiments of ideals, exhibit such low qualities, how can they set right the

world? They can only intensify the pollution.

 

What the world needs today is neither a new order, a new education, a new

system, a new society nor a new religion. The remedy lies in a mind, in a heart

filled with holiness. Holiness must take root and grow in the minds and hearts

of adult and youth everywhere, of boys and girls .

Human being yearns to know all things; but not yearn to know the Truth. That

which is not found at the beginning or at the end but is manifest only in the

interval, the middle period, cannot be really Real. The Cosmos did not exist

before it emerged, nor can it exist after it is submerged. What is evident in

between can only be apparent Truth, temporary and limited Truth.

Whatever the objects, everything in the Universe is inexorably subject to

the impact of Time and it has to face death and destruction. The tree and the

soil, the house and the body, the King and the Kingdom - each has to suffer the

same consummation. The awareness of the Atma (Brahmam) can give blessing and

peace in mind. Can the lake, which strikes us as invitingly charming so long as

the mirage is on, quench one's thirst? If one deludes himself with the belief

that it can and runs towards the non-existent sheet of water, he can only get

more thirsty.

Therefore, one should learn Atma Vidya,* the process by which one becomes

aware of one's Atmic Reality. By learning it and living it, one can quench his

own thirst and help to quench the thirst of all mankind.

Brahmavidya** is the specific theme of Taittiriyopanishad Upanishad. Of all

disciplines and subjects of study, the Brahmavidya is the most sacred, holy and

esoteric.

By this sacred text all that is caused, everything that is a result, is

short-lived; this is evident from the Sastras as well as experience and reason.

The Sastras speak of aspirants who discarded even higher regions like Heaven,

which are attainable by persons who perform the prescribed rites; for

Liberation is beyond the reach of those who dwell therein. Heaven and hell are

results of actions, they are created objects and so they cannot be eternal;

they are conditioned by birth, growth, decay and death. They do not exist from

the very beginning; they were made; before that act, they were not.

 

Nothing can produce anew what already exists. Moksha exists and is there

self-evident. It cannot be produced anew by any Karma. The moment the A-jnana

which hides it from experience disappears, that moment you are liberated and

you know your Reality; you are free from bondage. Prior to that moment, you

were free, but imagined you were bound and you behaved as if you were bound.

How then are you to get rid of this idea that you are bound? By listening to

the teachings of the Vedas with faith therein. Listening, rumination and

concentration are the three steps in this Realisation. Listening refers to

Vedas, which have to be revered in faith and learnt by heart from a Guru; this

confers the knowledge of the unknowable.

 

In Taittiriyopanishad Upanishad, the three words, Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham,

are meaningfully affixed to Brahmam, to explain its characteristics. They are

three distinct words, signifying qualities seeking to mark out the One from the

rest, the One Brahmam from other types of Brahmam which have not these traits.

All that are limited by time, space and objectivity are jada, material

apparently different from Brahmam. The characteristics of Sathyam, Jnanam,

Anantham, help to differentiate and distinguish from kindred and similar

phenomena the real Brahmam.

By Taittiriyopanishad Brahmam (Atma) is Sathyam, with no modifications. It

is unaffected by time. All that is not Brahmam ... that is, Jagath, is subject

to change. All objects are subject to the triple process of the intellect: are

known, the knower and knowledge; hence, the intellect or Buddhi is spoken of as

a guha or cave, where the threefold process resides.

 

The Upanishad exhorts you not to swerve from duties of learning and

teaching. "Swerve not from the true and the truth", it says. "From the true, it

will not do to swerve nor from Dharma nor from welfare and well-being, nor from

duties to Devas and Pitris. Treat thy mother as God. What works are free from

fault, they should be resorted to, not others..." this is what the Upanishad

teaches.

 

The Timeless Truth radiates also through Sutra (aphorism) in a few words,

vast expanses of meaning, vast depths of fundamental significance. The Brahma

Sutras build up the science of Vedantha. They gather multicoloured flowers from

all the Upanishads and string them together to form an enchanting garland. Each

Sutra can be elaborated and explained in a number of learned ways, according to

each one's understanding, faith, preference, experience and pleasure.

The very first Sutra is "Athaatho Brahma Jijnaasaa". It is obvious that it

refers to Brahma Jijnaasa, the yearning to understand the nature of Brahman

(Atma). Among the preliminary qualifications for Brahma Jijnaasa, the first is

Viveka: Discrimination between the transitory and the eternal. In other words,

the discovery that the Atma alone is beyond Time, and that all objects

perceivable by the senses of sight, etc., are only transitory. The Atma alone

suffers no change. It alone is Nitya Sathya (Timeless Truth). (Reet's

compilation from, Sathya Sai Baba. "Vidya Vahini," Chapter XIX and Chapter X ;

Sathya Sai Baba. "Sutra Vahini," Athaatho Brahma Jijnaasaa; Sathya Sai Baba.

"Upanishad Vahini," Chapter XI, Taittiriyopanishad.

PS. * Atma Vidya and **Brahmavidya by my understanding is principally the same.

 

Namaste - Reet