Spark 6
January 1, 2015
WHO ARE WE?
Many spiritual teachers addressed their students as the Radiant Immortal Atman1, Beloved Children of God2, Blessed Self3 etc. In the Chhandogya Upanishad, Uddalaka said to his beloved son, “You are That4.” Self-realization, which is said to be the goal of spiritual studies, implies that our present idea of our own existence is rooted in ignorance.
Presently we experience varieties of conflicts within our bosom. A self-experience that is free from any conflict is – in its simplest form – the significance of Self-realization. It is a movement from incompleteness to completeness. It is a transformation from endless insecurity to relaxed security. It is discovery of true love, which knows no boundaries. It is the erasure of all differences such as ‘high and low’ created by our own mind based on questionable criteria like wealth, education, physical appearance etc. It is ending of sorrow and finding limitless bliss.
So who or what are we, really? The answer of the Upanishads is – everyone of us is really ever free but we do not know it at present. We must wake up.
The central teaching therefore is to re-look. It is to ask, “Who am I?” It is to take help from scriptures, teachers and God (shaastra, guru and Ishwara) so that we may let go of all our false ideas about our own identity and embrace the true Self. “Arise, awake and know (your own innate freedom) by reaching competent teachers,” roars the Kathopanishad(5).
In wisdom traditions like Buddhism, they are silent on the Pure Self but are otherwise in great agreement with the Vedanta to say that the present, false self needs to be ended. Through appropriate study and practice, we are to prepare ourselves and finally gain the “insight” that this ego is simply an illusion. Pleasure, power and wealth that attract us are an illusion on one hand, and the self that gets tempted by them is itself an illusion on the other!
Why therefore run after the mirage in this scorching desert of worldly existence? Let us get up and behold the Truth. We are loving; we’re lovable; we need not fear anything; we’re free!
Swami Chidananda
Kudal, Maharashtra
End Notes:
1 Revered Swami Chidanandaji, who was the second President of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh
2 Same as in 1
3 Pujya Swami Chinmayananda ji
4 The great statement – tat tvam asi. Chhandogya 6.13.3 and other eight places.
5 Kathopanishad 1.3.14