Self-knowledge or
Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the aim of every human being. Since everyone
thinks the physical body is the self, their aim is misdirected and they focus
their attention on materiality which makes one feel the duality (waking) as
reality.
In path of wisdom the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. The individual experience bliss is not Brahmic bliss or nondual
Self-awareness.
Individual
truth is not a universal truth. An individual cannot claim that he has
experienced the whole. There is no proof he has seen it, because the
Whole is not an individual experience. The man and the world are within the
whole. Thus such claims of experiencing the self or Ataman is mere
hallucination.
Sage Sri Sankara:- "The world, filled with attachments and
avrsions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one
is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.
Sage Sri Sankara:- "As fire is the direct cause of cooking,
so knowledge, and not any other form of discipline, is the direct cause of
Liberation; for Liberation cannot be attained without Knowledge." (Self-Knowledge).
Sage Sri Sankara:- As the moon appears
to be moving when the clouds move in the sky, so also to the
non-discriminating. Atman appears to be active when in reality the senses are
active.
The snake has no independent
existence. It exists because of the rope, and it ceases to exist as soon as a
light is brought. The snake then dissolves into the rope. In the same way, when
one knows the ultimate
truth, the mind,
which is present in the form of the universe, merges into it and he realizes that mind and the soul are one and the same because
they are one in essence. To attain this knowledge is the goal of life. The mind
then cannot taint one. One’s contact with it is merely like that of a piece of
sandalwood, which has long been under water and has thereby come to acquire a
bad odour.
For a while the fragrance of
the sandalwood is suppressed and the bad odour prevails. But if the sandalwood
is rubbed a little, the bad odour disappears and the natural fragrance of the
sandalwood becomes predominant. Similarly, one’s attachment to the physical
existence (universe) is temporary. It cannot be permanent.
One has to think the soul as
his self, which is in the form of Pure Consciousness. The seeker has to think
intensely and constantly in this way. The attachment one now have to the experience of birth, life, death and the
world will then go.
One can attain the self-knowledge
or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana by keep reminding himself that the world, with
all its allurements, is not real that is, it is not real in the sense that it
is transitory. Only the
consciousness is real
because it is imperishable.
One must mentally reject the
three states and concentrate on the formless witness of the three states. Waking experience may be alluring, but it is
transitory. One should never run after things within the waking experience
because the waking experience is mere mirage. One should never covet someone
else's wealth within the waking, and never becomes attached to his own wealth
because waking experience is parallel dream and dream is a parallel waking
experience. .
To one who knows that the
three states are transitory, wealth is not wealth and any form of sense
pleasure is repugnant. One must be concerned only with consciousness become steeped in consciousness and consciousness alone is real and the self is that
consciousness. Nurture this consciousness
and become oblivious to everything else.
By performing his duties as
prescribed by the scriptures are not qualifications to acquire self-knowledge
or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The duties perfumed within the illusory world
bound to illusory. Therefore one has to realize ‘what is the truth?’ and ‘what
is the illusion?’ is in order to realize
ultimate truth or Brahman.
There is no point in running
after the pleasures the world has to offer. These pleasures are momentary. If one
runs after them he will experience the pleasure and pain as reality. Not everyone is in a position to acquire
self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Most people want to enjoy life.
The self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not for them.
By indulging in deeper
self-search the hankering for sense pleasures will go, the spirit of
discrimination will grow strong, and love for Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or
Atma Gnana will develop. When this happens they will no longer be attached to the
happening within the experience of the birth, life, death and the world. One need not feel lost. He can take time the
path of wisdom is the only means to get rid of ignorance.
The ignorant is enveloped in
darkness, such as what the blind experience i.e., those devoid of Self-knowledge
or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
Ish Upanishads :- Those people who have neglected the attainment of
Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and have thus committed suicide. This is a condemnation of people who do not
try to attain Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. They are, in a real
sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense
enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be
your own master? In order to be your own master, you have to realize that you
are identical with Brahman, the Cosmic Self, that you are Pure Consciousness, ever free, without
name and form, and unconditioned.
The soul the innermost self is not subject to any modification, without
beginning and end, beyond thought and speech. The soul, the innermost self is
existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute. When one realizes this
he is free from experiencing the illusory duality as reality. He no longer
swings between the experience of birth, life death and the world.
If one does not try to realize
what the truth really is, he is indeed committing suicide. He experiences the
illusory pain and pleasure of life as a reality of experiencing the birth, life,
death and the world as reality.
