Atmajyoti- Eternal Light of Satchidananda

Sri Laxmi Narayana Aithal

WHAT IS THE USE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE VEDANTA?

    The  knowledge  of  the  Vedanta  may  be  reasonable,  but  a  few  people  may  find  that  they  don’t  get  any  benefit  from  that  knowledge.  In order to console them, the following verse has commenced:

Naaham Jaato Na Pravrddho Na Nashto Dehasyoktaah Praakrtaah Sarva-dharmaah I

Kartrtvaadi-sh-chinmaya-asti  Naahamkaarasyaiva  Hyaatmano  May  Shivo-aham II

Meaning- Aham: I,  Na  Jaatah: am  not  born,  Na  Pravrddhah:  am  not  grown  up,  Na  Nashtah:  am  not  lost,  uktaah:  above  said,  Prakrtaah:  natural,  Sarva-dharmaah: all  traits ( qualities ),  dehasya:  of  the  body,  kartrtvaadi: agency,  etc;  ahamkaarasyaiva:  of  the  egotism  alone, hi:  determination, Chinmayasya:  of  the  Form  of  Awareness,  aatmanah: of  the  Self,  May: to  me,  Naasti:  don’t  exist,  aham: I,  Shivah:  am  Auspiciousness.

Atmajyoti

Sri Lakshmi Narayan Aithal

THE  WORLD  IS  AN  IMAGE  IN  A  MIRROR  APPEARS  IN  THE  UNIQUE  SELF.

 

 (Objection: -) If  the  cognition  of  the  world  is  simply  illusionary,   after  obtaining  the  knowledge  of  the  Self,  should  it  not  disappear,  as  the  snake  in  the  rope,  etc.  Disappear?

   (Relief: -) From  the  view  point  of  reality  we  have  answered  this  objection.  Now,  we  are  going  to  give  another  consolatory  solution,  accepting  that  the  world  really  exists  and  it  appears  empirically.  An  appearance  which  doesn’t  really  exist  may  continue  to  appear  even  after  knowing  the  reality.  For an instance, the reflection in a mirror can be taken.  Children  believe  their  respective  reflections  in  the  mirror  to  be  another  child  alone  and  after  a  few  days  they  understand  that  is  the  reflection,  and  really  there  is  no  child.  Even  after  this  understanding  the  reflection  continues  to  appear,  isn’t  it?  Similarly,  the  world  doesn’t  have  a  separate  existence;  its  existence  is  that  of  the  Big  Self,  itself;  and  even  after  knowing  this  reality,  the  world  continues  to  appear.

Atmajyoti- Removal of the Confusion of the World

 By  Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal

(Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal has served for over 3 decades in Swami’s institution and is the former Principal of the Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Institutions at Muddenahalli. Inspired by Swami’s direct message to study the Upanishads, he first learnt Sanskrit and then studied the direct works of Adi Shankaracharya and Swami. Sincere perseverance led him to the reality of Aham Brahmasmi and He realized and experienced Swami’s words: “I am God and so are you”. He shares the import of the Upanishadic teachings with us in this series of articles.)

   Not  only  the  selfhood  is  an  obstacle  to  apprehend  that  we  are  the  Absolute  Form  of  Auspiciousness;  and  the  world  that  appears  for  us  is  also  another  obstacle  to  that  Awareness.  If  we  are  the  unique  Form  of  Awareness,  how  the  world  of  inert  objects  would  have  come  out?  This  thought  is  a  fearful  impediment  for  the  reflection  of  the  Auspiciousness. Similar  to  us,  many  living  beings  are  here;  all  of  them  live  with  us;  and  as  us,  they  are  also  having  pleasure  and  pain.  How does this multiplicity of selfhood appear?  We  can  apprehend,  somehow,  that  the  Self  is  of  the  form  of  awareness;  but  how  do  we  apprehend  these  inert  objects  are  of  the  form  of  awareness?  These  inert  objects  appear  to  the  self;  and  these  are  liked  or  disliked  by  the  self;  and  as  the  self  uses  these  inert  objects  that  are  depending  on  another  are  used.  How  do  we  apprehend  these  inert  objects  as  of  the  form  of  awareness?