The tradition of Advaita teaches .... it does not preach. It teaches you the
truth of who you are, using a sophisticated and simple methodology of teaching.
I am ....not whatever I perceive, or can perceive at
anytime.
That means I am not the world around me(obvious).
I am not the roles I play in interaction with the world. Not
sanyasi, not disciple, not daughter, not teacher, not friend, not sister, not
employer, not citizen of the country or the world.
I am not the body-mind,
nor the energy that pervades the body-mind. I not the perceptions, the
sensations, the activities that take place in the body-mind or via the
body-mind.
I am not the doer, nor am I the experiencer. I am not the
waker, the dreamer, or the one in deep-sleep.
After negating all of whatever I take as myself, I am simply
left with I AM.
This ‘I am’ is self-evident, self-revealing conscious Being,
free of all form, free of all attributes – a non-person!! We can’t negate it!!
The ‘I am’ is the Conscious (cit)Being (sat) in whose changeless (that which can never be destroyed or
modified) limitless (ananda) ever-presence (timeless), the
body-mind, all processes of the body-mind, all perceptions, thoughts, feelings,
memories, ignorance and the Universe is revealed, enlivened.... blessed,
without whose presence and being nothing
whatsoever exists. Indeed all this is just an appearance that comes to go in
the consciousness that I am .... ever non-seperate from me.... ever an appearance
of my Self alone
Am I able to confirm this for
myself or am I loyal to my identity as a person?
If I am not able to confirm this
truth for myself, as even Arjuna was not able to, on hearing Lord Krishna in
Chapter 2 of the Gita – then Vedanta points out that one is not ready yet to
confirm – and so one must first prepare oneself.
What is the preparation?
Firstly understanding that the
cause of all this (whatever can be
objectified, whatever can be perceived, which includes world, and this
body-mind complex) is one changeless consciousness alone who through its own
glorious shakti manifests as all this. You can call this Consciousness
in its status as cause of all this, as the Lord, Ishvara. This whole universe
which includes this body-mind is non-seperate from the Lord. The Lord is the
one who is present in the Universe as the Order – the law of cause and effect
that governs everything that is here.... you may call it the Divine Order, the
Maha Order... which renders everything here as what it is. The Lord is
therefore also called the one who ordains the result of all our actions. This
understanding of the Lord is vital for relating to Lord and settling one’s
emotional accounts and growing into relative contentment and peace.
Therefore when one is identified
with the body-mind as ‘I’,, then I relate to this Consciousness, this Lord, who
verily shines in one’s heart as ‘I’ through worshipful surrender. One’s
awareness of the Lord as being present through warp and woof of the Universe is
the surrender – in that understanding there is awareness of one’s every
thought, feeling, sensation, action being imbued with the presence of the Lord.
One’s attitude is one of reverence and
surrender. One understands the Lord to be the nitya sakshi, the one who is
ever the changeless impartial witness to one’s every action, sensation,
thought, feeling, memory. One understands that one cannot be away from the Lord
even if one wants to. One may relate to the Lord then as Father /Mother /
Husband/Wife etc – ever one’s Divine Companion in whose benign ever-presence
and Order one’s life activities takes place. Increasingly relating to the Lord
thus, one begins to see the body-mind as an instrument to be used for
contribution to the world in whatever capacity one can, as an offering of
gratitude to the Lord because of whom the contribution is possible. Also one is
able to accept the ups and downs of life, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the
sorrow and the joy, as coming from the Divine Order and so it is what it is
meant to be – and one’s dependence of the world to be as one wants it to be reduces.
The likes and dislikes are neutralised and one finds oneself relatively content
and peaceful.
Self-knowledge takes places
effortlessly for the person who relates to the Omniscient, Omnipresent Lord as
a devotee who has neutralised his or her sense of individuality to great extent
through relating to the Lord as the cause of this universe.
My Guru Pujya Swami Dayanandaji
always said, you can’t bypass emotional maturity and gain self-knowledge.
Traditional Vedanta understands the problem of loyalty to one’s identity and with
great compassion prescribes a life of relating to the Lord to lighten one’s
sense of individuality. When one is ready and one is exposed to good teaching,
knowledge (recognition of one’s truth) takes place.
Om Tat Sat
