Guest guest Posted April 17, 2007 Report Share Posted April 17, 2007 SAI RAM Dear Brothers and Sisters, Scriptures declare that all of us are of the nature of Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss(Satchidanandaswarupam Swatmanam Vijaneeyat). Atma transcends the five sheaths( Panchakosa Atita). Atma is not identified with any of them but is present in each of them. Just as watches, shirts , houses known as " mine " are all other than the possessor, so too, the five sheaths known by the Self as " my body, my pranas, my mind, my intellect and my knowledge " should be other than the knower, and so can not be Atma. The knower is always different from the known. It is only when we identify ourselves with these sheaths that we become limited by them. When I identify myself with my body, the limitations of the body become mine. So also, the emotions of the mind and the ignorance of the intellect. The Upanishads declare that the seat of the intellect( Buddhi) is in the heart and that in the cave of heart( Hrid-guhayaam) is the intellect and in the midst of intellect is the shining Atma. The term " Heart " should not be understood as the blood pumping mechanism inside the body. A man with noble emotion is called a man of " heart " and who he is bereft of emotion is called heartless. The mind full of love is called the heart. Heart means " love " , pure love. When the intellect is contemplating on the Atma in an atmosphere of universal love, it will be able to recognise the Self as the light illuminating its meditative, single-pointed thought. Vedanta calls the heart agitated with likes and dislikes as mind . The mind is the choking chord around the neck of the individual, while the heart is the releasing angle that helps one free himself from the thralldom of the mind. To achieve freedom, one has to bring the mind to a single-pointed thought. This is not possible unless there is love in heart. With Love or devotion, when one moves towards Atma, the mind becomes single-pointed with only one thought in it. And the one who illuminates that thought is Atma. (to be continued) With Loving SAI RAMs, G.Balasubramanian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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