SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA---124

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Loving SAI RAMs,

The terrestrial world of things and beings is conditioned by time, space and direction. The Atma is the Transcendental Reality which lies beyond the limitations of the terrestrial realms. Atma therefore remains ever unconditioned and is goverened neither by time nor space nor direction. Atma is also beyond heat and cold and is Eternal Bliss

(Nitya Sukham).Atma is also called as Anandam, Akhanda Anandam and as Apara Sukham in the scriptures. The Mundaka Upanishad says, " when a man sees the Universal Self in himself then the distinction between good and evil drops out. He is freed from passions and reaches the goal ie., becomes one with the Universal Self. "

( Yada Pasyah pasyate rugmavarnam kartaram isam purusham Brahmayonim Tada Vidwan punyapapam vidhooya niranjanah paramam samyamapaiti.) Those he detach themselves from the influence of the gross,subtle and causal bodies and meditate upon the Supreme Self within becomes one with the Self which is the all-knowing ,all-pervading Reality. Thoughts and agitations belong to the subtle body. When our mind is agitated there is no peace and happiness. When all the thoughts are eliminated and agitations quietened we wxperience permanent and absolute bliss. This condition of external bliss attributed to the Atma denotes the transcendence of the subtle body. With reference to the Pure Self, vasanas are considered as impurity on elimination of which one becomes pure. Vasanas are impressions of earlier sense experiences. They are the seeds of thoughts and actions. They cease to have the power to sprout out into new thoughts and actions ,once they are burnt in the fire of spiritual knowledge. They are the impelling force for the subtle body surviving physical death and manufacturing new physical bodies for itself. This impelling force is provided by the actions the subtle body has done and the knowledge it had gained in the previous life.

 

 

 

" Immortality as well as mortality are both established in the body of everyone; by the pursuit of delusion one reaches death; by the pursuit of truth one attains immortality " ,says the Mahabharatam

(Amritam chaiva mrituscha dvayam dehe pratishtitam mrityusapadayate mohat satyenapadyatemritam). The Kathopanishad says, " The Purusha, the inner Self, of the size of a thumb, always dwells in the heart of beings . One should separate Him from one`s body with steady courages as one separates the tender stalk from a blade of grass. One should know Him as the luminous, as the immortal (Angushta matarh Purushah Antaratma sada jananam hrudaye sannivishtah tam svachareerat pravruhet munchadiveshikam dhairyena tam vidyat sukram amrutam tam vidyat sukram amrutam iti). The Purusha referred in the above Mantra is nothing other than Atma.

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian