SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA---106

July 11, 2007

Dear Brother and fellow Atma,

Loving SAI RAMs.You have raised a question and given the answer thereto yourself in your mail. If the contents of the posting referred to by you in your mail were 'uplifting and enlightening',it was certainly the work of The Divinity Itself. Nothing said therein is original and no credit therefor is deserved by this humble self.

As regards your query as to the source of the wisdom etc., undoubtedly it is the Bhagavan Baba Himself. This humble self has only typed whatever was being dictated to me as though by some invisible voice from behind. Everything including this humble Self is He or His only. Nevertheless, for your information, the postings follow the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and all other relevant Scriptural Texts. Source for some of the statements made in the postings has also been disclosed in many places in this as well as earlier postings. After the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita the works of Adi Sankaracharya and Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi etc. come to my mind. Bhagavan Baba Himself quotes the scriptures very often. Wealth of Sai Literature available has also been studied. There is nothing to hide from my side. Whatever little, this humble self has assimiltated by extensive study of various scriptural texts, backed by attending regularly discourses of highly learned scholars over a period of over 40 years and , above all,the Grace of Swamy account for such postings. To my mind, it is not the person who makes these postings that is important. What is important is understanding the contents of the postings.

With Love,

G.Balasubramanian

On 7/10/07, Kesselman <helpever wrote:

Sai Ram fellow atma,

Thank you for this most uplifting and enlightening email. It is so clear. I wonder where you get this wisdom and how you compile it…..well I do know it is the Divine working through you to reach all of us, and we all are its exact reflection. This passage below was so clearly stated, that just reading it sheds immediate light to the intellect! We are this Brahman and this is greater than all that is experienced by the body, mind or spirit, and we are just that, whether we realize it or not. This is another true, simple and yet powerfully profound statement.

Sincerely,

F. Kesselman

On Behalf Of G. BalasubramanianSent:

Tuesday, July 10, 2007 5:41 AMputtaparthy saibabaCc: saibabadivine

[sBOI-post] SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA---106

Loving SAI RAMs,

(continued from Posting No.105)

The Kathopanishad declares, " The Atman, smaller than the atom and greater than the greatest is ever present in the heart of this creature. One who is free from the thraldom of desire realizes the glory of the Atma through purity by transcending the the senses and the mind and thereby he becomes free from grief. " In this regard a verse comes to my mind from Ramayana, wherein Hanuman says, " When I consider myself as a body, I am your servant, when I consider myself as an individual, I am part of you, but when I consider myself as Atma, you and I are one " . (Dehabhavean Dasosmi, Jeevabhavena tvat amaskah,Atmabhave tvamevaaham). The Atma in us is the same as the Supreme All-pervading Reality. The Atma ever remains One with

Brahman, the Supreme reality, whether before or after its realization. Even before realization of

Brahman all beings, being Brahman,

are really always one with all others; but ignorance superimposes on them the idea they are not Brahman, that they are not one with all. The Self-realized merges with Brahman. Acharya Sankara wants us to understand " that to be Brahman

beyond the attainment of which there is no great attainment, beyond whose bliss there is no great bliss and beyond whose knowledge there is no great Knowledge " .

One reaches the state of Realization when he casts off the conditionings of his material equipment and becomes one with the transcendental Reality. That reality lies behind the limitations of the human experience. Self-realization is a state of absolute fulfilment of the three personalities of a human being. It is a state of great gain, the greatest bliss and the greatest Knowledge. At that state, the demands of the physical body which constantly seeks sensual pleasures, are completely satiated. Similarly, the mind ceaselessly seeks the joys of of the world and its seekings also end with the realizatin of the Self. Intellect plays the part of endless probing into the world and acquiring the variety of knowledge therein. The quest for knowledge continues until Self-realisation when one attains the state of Absolute Knowledge. Thus Self-realization is described as a state of absolute fulfilment beyond which there is no greater experience. Sankaracharya declares that there is no knowledge greater than the Knowledge of

Brahman.

Incidentally, the Mundaka Upanishad classifies knowledge into Higher

(Para) and Lower (Apara).

The Vedas, the grammar, etymology, metre, astronomy and all else is commonly known as 'Learning' constitute the lower knowledge. The Upanishad declares, " the Higher is that by which the Ever-existing is realized " (yaya tadaksharam adhigamyate).

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian