SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA----49

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SAI RAM Dear Brothers and Sisters,

(continued from posting no.48)

The eterenal Atma, having come " as though " under the clasp of the Vasanas, becomes an ego-centric individuality and comes to identify itself with the body and its fleshy appetites. Thereafter satisfaction of the appetities becomes its only occupation and goal of the individual who acts under the impression, " I am the body " . Owing to such extrovertedness, the individual becomes so much preoccupied with sense gratifications and joy-hunting that his restless mind shatters his discrimination and intellectual poise . To such a shattered man, ever in tension and stress, the subtle enquiries of his own life and into the layers of his own personality are impossible. True spiritual life can start only when the human intellect develops a detachment(

Vairagya) from what it can acquire and gain through the gross and subtle bodies, from the world of objects and happenings. Then starts the subjective quest, the true spiritual enquiries on who exactly is the " subject " in us who experiences life. The Upanishads have struggled hard with their suggestive phraseology.to explain the Atma which is transcendental and, therfore, can not, be defined readily, as we do the objects and the happenings in the phenominal world. The Absolute can not be defined directly with reference to any of our personal experiences in the objective world. It is a subjective experience, too deep for language to fathom; hence indescribebale.

 

 

The Absolute Atma is not an existent factor in the sense that we can experience It as an " object " other than ourself. Consciousness can not be indicated either as existant or as non-existant. Examples for existence are, " the tree is " , " I am " , " you are " etc. Examples of nonexistence are, " there are no trees in the desert " , " the rabbits have no horns " etc. A more typical example is this: " There goes the barren woman`s son, bathed in mirage-waters etc. etc. " The tail of man is neither available for our perceptions nor for our feelings nor for our contemplation, and therefore,we say it is non-existent. On this analogy the Absolute Reality viz., Atma which is not perceivable or not experienceable, can not be called as non-existant as it is the very substratum. If Atma were to be declared as non-existent, that would be as ridiculous as declaring that one has constructed a multi-floor apartment and is living now in the second-floor flat, when the ground floor is still to be constructed. Atma is therefore neither " existent " nor " non- existent " , neither manifest nor unmanifest.

(to be continued)

With Loving Sai Rams,

G.Balasubramanian

G.Balasubramanian