SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA-123

[Guest guest]

Loving SAI RAMs,

(continued from posting no.122)

Sankaracharya, in his work,Atma Bodha states that " he who, renouncing all activities, worships the holy shrine of his own Atma, which is independent of time, space and direction,which is present everywhere, which is eternal, bliss and stainless, becomes all-knowing ,all-pervading and immortal. " According to me ,this is a very very important statement. What I make out of this is that whoever attunes himself to the Self within, by transcending the activities of his material equipment becomes the all-knowing,all-pervading and immortal Atma or Reality. The Kena Upanishad echoes this understanding in this way:-

 

" Indeed he attains immortality who realises It in and through every pulsation of knowledge and awareness. Through the Atman he obtains strength and vigour and through Its knowledge immortality " ( Pratibodhividitam matam Amrutatvam hi vindate Atmana vindate viryam vidyaya vindate Amritam). The ISA Upanishad declares---- " Overcoming death through the sciences of external nature,man achieves immortality through the science of the unity of the Self

(Mritum Tirtva Vidyaya Amritam asnute). In the Kathopanishad, the teacher(Yama) emphasises that separateness is the way to death and more death. The Upanishad declares " He who sees Atma as different goes from death to death "

(Mrityoh sa Mrityum Gacchati ya iha naneva pasyati). By realizing the Universal Self as his true nature, of which his own ego was but a projecting tip, he recognizes his oneness with every being; by this he becomes

dhira, the wise one, one who has achieved the highest elevation of spirit; and by rising above the given world of ego and the senses--the world which is subject to change and mortality--by thus using it not as the final goal but only as a strategic base,he achieves immortality, declares the Kena Upanishad( Bhooteshu Bhooteshu Vichitya Dheerah Pretya Asmat lokat Amrita Bhavanti).

 

 

Sruti says " By realizing that Atma which is soundless, touchless, formless, imperishable, without taste, eternal,without smell, beginningless and endless even beyond the

Mahat and immutable,one is liberated from the jaws of death. " (Asabdam asparsam aroopam avyayam tatha arasam nityam agandhvat cha anadi anantam mahatah param dhruvam nichayya tam mrityumukhat pramuchyate). " A certain wise man intention to reach immortality, turned the energy of his senses and mind inward and realized the inner Self of man " , says the Kathopanishad (Kaschitdheerah Pratyagatmanam Aikshat Avrutachakshuh Amrutatvam ichan).

The Kaivalya Upanishad says, " Seek to know the infinite Self by faith, devotion and the yoga of meditation. Not by action,not by progeny,not by wealth,but by renunciation alone does one experience immortality "

( Sraddhabhakti Dhyanayogat avaihi na karmana na prajaya dhanena tyagenaikena Amrutatvamanasuh).

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian