SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA---97

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Loving SAI RAMs,

 

The Self is called the " fountain-head of immortality " because it is Eternal and Changeless. Changes(modifications) constitute mortality, and bring about sorrow. The Immortal, the changeless alone is the realm where sorrows can never reach to pollute its permanent bliss. The modifications viz.,birth, growth, decay,disease, and death;each one of them is a painful process. The State of Nirvikalpa " is a perpetual fountain of immortality. Where the mind has ended,the experience of constant Bliss arises, and in that State of Perfection there can not be any misery. The Plane of Self is compared to a wall that is raised to dam the flood of miseries

(Vipat-Nirodha). To realise the perfect nature of the Infinite Self in ourselves is the real state of true freedom in life. So long as we have not realised the Divine Status of the Self, we identify ourselves with our body, mind and intellect and conduct our life as the physical, the mental and the intellectual entities. So long as we maintain these misconceptions about ourselves, the three vehicless will rule our life. When the hungers of the flesh, the agitations of the mind and the demands of the intellect come to rule over us, we become helpless in their grip and labour ourself to satisfy their demands. But when an individual, after practisng self-control and self-discipline comes to experience in the thought-less state of Nirvikalpa which is the Infinite Joy and Bliss of the Self, thereafter, the matter envelopments can no longer torment the individual. In this State of Perfection lies the " dawn of freedom " ----freedom from matter and the enchantments of the world of plurality.

 

 

That State is again the end of self-effort. Man`s revolt against his own sense of imperfection expressed in himself, is called desire. Each desire that rises in us is a vain attempt of the intellect to give the delusory ego the infinite sense of fulfilment which it is seeking. So long the sense of ego exists, the sense of imperfection will remain and so long as there is the sense of imperfection, none can ignore it, but must necessarily strive to acquire, to possess

and to enjoy. Thereby one can hope to discover a sense of peace within and escape thus from the perpetual restlessness of the without. All conscious effort at satisfying the desires and realising the highest peace and joy fall under the term self-effort

(Purushartha). The end of self-effort is the total liberation(Moksha) from all disturbing sense of imperfection.

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian