SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA--92

[Guest guest]

Loving Sai Rams,

We are discussing about Contemplation on Atma as the final step in Sadhana.That from which everything has risen up, in which they exist, and into which they all ultimately go back is called the material cause. For eg., the waves, the mud for the pots, the gold for the ornaments are their material causes. The infinite all-pervading Consciousness, the Brahman, which alone existed before the creation manifested could alone be the only cause for the world-of-plurality, the instruments of experience, and the very experiences of joy and sorrow. This Brahman

revels in all living beings as Pure Consciousness (Chit-ghana). Because of its subtle nature, it is not easily recognised by the intellect. In our pre-occupations with the three bodies and their experiences, we have not chosen to recognise the play of the eternal Consciouness that illumines all our experiences. Hence, the Self in us is a secret now, hidden( goodham) from our cognition.

 

This non-dual Consciousness in its subtility, pervading everywhere, illumines all objects, emotions and thoughts, just as in the day-time the sunlight illumines all things. The Light of the Atma being the individual`s own real nature, its nearness and intimacy in such subjective conditions as " I am Conscious " , " I am aware " , " I Know " are something unique. When the Light of Consciousness (Atma) illumines any field, each one of us experiences, " I am aware, I am conscious etc. " The Eternal Self is the material cause for the entire world of plurality and also for the instruments of experiences in every individual. And it is the same Consciousness that is the very core of our being. The seeker should realize that the Universal Brahman, Infinite and Transcendental, is the Self in us, the Atma , functioning as the Source of All Consciousness, without which the " gathering of experiences " is impossible. The Highest is reached only when there is a divine fusion in our experience that the Self in us is the Self in all. The Bhagavad Geeta thunders this. English translation and commentary on Verses 29 to 31 of the Sixth chapter of the Gita should be read and understood thoroughly and put in practise by anybody who wants to call himself or herself a seeker. The Upanishads are never tired of repeating it. Bhagavan Baba keeps on repeating this in almost all his discouses. Merely listening to or reading His discourses is of no help. One has to live the path shown to us by Swamy.

 

Truth, as a substratum for the entire world of plurality, is indicated as Brahman, and the same Infinite Reality, when it is the substratum for the individual form and its life, it is called the Atma, the Self. When the conditionings are removed and the Self is realized, the world of names and forms, emotions and thoughts are also obliterated and the total experience is of the One Infinite Consciouness, within and without.

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian