Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
We are now studying Aatmabodha. As
always, with each week, you are encouraged to review the previous teachings and
spend some time in contemplation of the meanings as the affect your life.
Please do consider purchasing the text. Remember, also, to recite the mangala charana before each study and
review the lessons before each new one.
The
text now moves onto a declaration of Oneness.
AaTmEved<
jgTsvRmaTmanae=NyÚ ik<cn,
m&dae yÖ˜qadIin SvaTman< svRmI]te.48.
Aatmaivedam jagat-sarvam-aatmaano-nyanna kinchana,
mRdo yadvad-ghataadiini svaatmaanam sarvam-iikshate ||48||
The tangible universe is verily the
Aatman Itself. Nothing whatsoever other than the Aatman exists. Just as pots
and jars are verily made of clay and cannot be said to be anything but clay, so
too, for the enlightened person, all that is perceived is the Self.
Again we have a verse from the jnaana-marg which echoes that of the
bhakti-marg in yesterday's post. Once the Realisation of Truth of Self is made,
then everything dissolves in to the whole which is described by this text as
Aatmaa.
What is the difference between this and earlier declarations of
unity? Very subtly, the move is from the individual recognising their part in
the whole, to accepting that they ARE the whole and were never apart from it.
To aid this shift in detail, the analogy given is that of the cooking pots
(still used in today's households in many parts of the world!) which are made
from the earth's rich soil, formed into clay. That clay itself is formed
further to give useful items. When their usefulness has expired they are thrown
out - essentially, returned to the clay. We may be reminded, here, of the words
'from dust to dust' which are heard often at funerals. The recognition is that,
for there to be form, there must first be something from which that form can be
built and that those forms must return to somewhere - which is likely to be the
source material again.
Without clay, all the different forms and shapes could not come
about. The original clay alone can give the material for shaping and strength
to all the forms which arise from it.
In the same way, we are asked here to understand that the Self alone
is the source 'material' from which this entire universe obtains its form; it
is the Reality upon which the shape of 'life' in this world of names and forms
is founded and to which it all returns once a Man of Wisdom has done the
research necessary to discover that source.
Those folk who have no greater purpose in life than to direct their
energies towards a hunt for the fleeting pleasures of this world of objects,
cannot so easily recognise this subtle presence everywhere. They may even be
cruel to those who DO see it and appreciate the connection. Again it is noted,
then, that the path of Wisdom in this context is not a busy one; few have the
stamina to search long enough and hard enough to discover this truth of the
interconnectedness of All. The Infinite pervades and envelops the entire finite
world. The multiplicity beheld by the grosser personality is but a projection
upon the One Eternal Truth.
The one who comes to fully appreciate this moves beyond the
boundaries of even recognizing plurality and comes to exist in the completeness
of Aatman.
