You are free :: You are Boundless :: NO desire or pain or misery or fear can touch you if you yourself

----- from Ashtavakra Gita (अष्टावक्रगीता)

आत्मा साक्षी विभुः पूर्ण एको मुक्तश्चिदक्रियः ।
असंगो निःस्पृहः शान्तो भृमात्संसारवानिव ।। १-१२ ।।

आत्मा साक्षी, सर्वव्यापी, पूर्ण एक मुक्त चेतन, अक्रिय असंग, इच्छा रहित एवं शांत है । भृमवश ही ये सांसारिक प्रतीत होती है ।

ātmā sākṣī vibhuḥ pūrṇa eko muktaścidakriyaḥ ||
asaṁgo niḥspṛhaḥ śānto bhramātsaṁsāravāniva || 1 - 12 ||

The Self is the one perfect, free, and actionless Consciousness, the all-pervading witness, unattached to anything, desireless and at peace. It is an illusion that you seem to be involved in the world.



The Self is the Witness. It watches everything from a distance and is in no way involved in anything that appears and disappears. It is perfect and ever free and completely devoid of any sense of doership. The cause of suffering is the illusion that makes it seem as if “I am the doer”, or “I am the enjoyer” or “I am the one suffering”. The mind has projected all these illusions and we have identified with that falseness and have got trapped with its workings.

Sri Ramana Maharshi illustrated this wonderfully. He asked us to notice what happens during a movie show and how we get carried away with what is shown on screen. We look at the images that are projected on the blank screen and deem
them as real. These images can make us laugh or cry depending on what the screen shows us. We don’t see the light that projects it, or the screen on which the images are being projected. We only look at the images and identify with that and start to feel – on the basis of what is being projected on the screen. The images are
completely false and can’t exist without the screen. Only the screen is real as it always exists even when the images keep changing. It is not affected by anything which is superimposed on it. It is always the same. It receives all kinds of images – bad and good. It is pure and white even if the images show blood stains and violence. The screen remains untainted. And finally, when the lights are off (physical death), still the screen remains just as it was.

The screen is the SELF and the images are all the thought patterns, emotions, body forms and individual I-ness which are projected or superimposed on the Self.

A Jnani knows that all such superimpositions are unreal and are false appearances. He remains more and more in the background SELF as that blissful, desireless and actionless Consciousness

Merging with oneself :: Know your true Identity ::

|| स्वाप्ययात् || ब्रह्मसूत्र (१,१.९)

|| Svapyayat || Brahma Sutra ( 1.1.9 )

On account of (the individual) merging in one's own self (the self cannot be pradhana)

Svaapyayaat(स्वाप्ययात्) : On account of merging in one's own self



Chhandogya upanishad V1-8-1 says Svam Apita, which means in deep sleep the individual soul resolves in the Sat. The intelligent Self can clearly not resolve itself into the non-intelligent Pradhana. Hence the Pradhana cannot be the First cause denoted by the term 'Sat' in the Brahma Sutra.

The waking state is that where the mind, the senses and the body act in concert to know the objects. The individual soul identifies himself with the gross body. In the dreaming state the body and the senses are at rest and the mind plays with the impressions which the external objects have left. The mind weaves its web of Vasanas. In deep sleep the individual soul is free from the limitation of mind. He rests in his own Self though in a state of ignorance.

With reference to the cause denoted by the word 'Sat' the Sruti says, "When a man sleeps here, then my child, he becomes united with the Sat, he is gone to his own self. Therefore they say of him 'he sleeps' (Svapiti) because he is gone to his own (Svam Apita)

In the Chhandogya text it is clearly said that the individual soul merges or resolves in the Sat. The intelligent Self can clearly not resolve itself into the non-intelligent Pradhana. That into which all intelligent souls are merged in an intelligent cause of the universe is denoted by the term Sat and not the Pradhana.

Hunger and Thirst :: Desires

--- -From aitareya upanishad ऐतरेय उपनिषद 2.5

तमशनायापिपासे अब्रूतामावाभ्यामभिप्रजानीहीति ते
अब्रवीदेतास्वेव वां देवतास्वाभजाम्येतासु भागिन्न्यौ करोमीति ।
तस्माद्यस्यै कस्यै च देवतायै हविगृर्ह्यते
भागिन्यावेवास्यामशनायापिपासे भवतः ॥५॥

tamashanayapipase abrutamavabhyamabhiprajanihiti te abravidetasveva va.n devatasvabhajamyetasu bhaginnyau karomiti |
tasmadyasyai kasyai cha devatayai havigri.rhyate bhaginyavevasyamashanayapipase bhavatah || 5 ||

Translation ::

Hunger and thirst said to the Creator: "For the two of us find an abode also." He said to them: "I assign the two of you to these deities; I make you co-sharers with them." Therefore to hatsoever deity an oblation is made, hunger and thirst became sharers in it.

Comments :

Seeing other deities occupy their allotted places in man, hunger and thirst also demanded their own abode for themselves. Instead of assigning them an independent abode, the Creator asked them to share the abode with all the other deities. This signifies that desires afflict all the senses and that hunger and thirst are mere sensations which cannot subsist independently without their supporting sense organs; for example mere hunger cannot eat
food unless it takes the help of the mouth to eat.

Then hunger and thirst were created and they approached Ishvara. They also asked for a place to live. These Devatas reside in our senses and when we sit for meditation they open the senses with force and allow the object to enter. When the thirst and hunger asked for a place to sit, Ishvara told them to share the same place where Devatas reside. Therefore, each and every sense organ there is thirst and hunger (desires). One can never satisfy them. That is the very nature of hunger and thirst. All the sense organs are always hungry and thirsty. It is good to understand and appreciate this. Ishvara made them share the place to sit along with the Devatas. Whatever food is offered to these Devatas is shared by this hunger and thirst. When Devatas eat then that also goes to hunger and thirst. It is said in scriptures that more you feed the senses, hungrier they become. It is like fire, the more fuel you put, fire becomes hungrier. Our senses can never be satisfied with the pleasures of the sense organs, because hunger and thirst is residing with them. Whenever something offered to the senses then this hunger and thirst also gets share in it.

In this way, Ishvara first created the world, then He created Virata Purusha. Then He made all the Devatas, Lokapalas and then He brought this abode of human body for them. The Devatas became satisfied with the human body. They got their respective abod

ATMABODHA | VERSE 14 | SRI ADI SANKARACARYA

1. Inexpressible and beginningless ignorance is said to be the causal body ( as in deep sleep ) . Know the Self to be other than these three upadhis .

If so, why is the Self not evident to me ? On the other hand , Sruti says , " This Purusha is made up of annarasa ( essence of food ) " . ~ RM

2. Avidya or nescience , indescribable and beginningless , is called the cause , which is an upadhi superimposed on Atman . Know for certain that Atman is other than the three upadhis .

3. Avidya which is indescribable and beginningless is the Causal Body . Know for certain that the Atman is other than these three conditioning bodies ( Upadhis )

ATMABODHA | VERSE 13 | SRI ADI SANKARACARYA

1. The subtle body consisting of the five airs , the mind , intellect , the ten senses and made up of subtle elements is also meant for enjoyment ( as in dreams ) .

2. The subtle body , the instrument of the Soul’s experience , consists of the five pranas , the ten organs , the manas , and the buddhi — all formed from the rudimentary elements before their sub-divisions and combination with one another .

3. The five Pranas , the ten organs and the Manas and the Buddhi , formed from the rudimentary elements ( Tanmatras ) before their " five-fold division and mutual combination with one another " ( Pancheekarana ) and this is the subtle body , the instruments-of-experience ( of the individual ) .

ATMABODHA | VERSE 12 | SRI ADI SANKARACARYA

1. The gross body made up of the five gross elements ( earth , water , fire , air and ether ) is meant to reap the fruits of past actions in the shape of pleasure and pain .

2. The gross body , the medium through which the Soul experiences pleasure and pain , is determined by past action and formed out of the five great subtle elements , which become gross when one half portion of one subtle element becomes united with one eighth of each of the other four .

3. Determined for each individual by his own past actions and made up of the Five elements — that have gone through the process of “ five-fold self-division and mutual combination ” ( Pancheekarana ) — are born the gross-body , the medium through which pleasure and pain are experienced , the tent-of-experiences .

श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् 1/6

सर्वाजीवे सर्वसंस्थे बृहन्ते
अस्मिन् हँसो भ्राम्यते ब्रम्हचक्रे ।
पृथगात्मानं प्रेरितारं च मत्वा
जुष्टस्ततस्तेनामृत्तात्त्वमेति ॥
(श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् 1/6)
व्याख्या-- जो सबके जीवन निर्वाह का हेतु है और जो समस्त प्राणियों का आश्रय है, ऐसे इस जगत् रूप ब्रम्हचक्र में परमब्रम्ह परमात्मा द्वारा संचालित तथा परमात्मा के ही विराट शरीर रूप संसार चक्र में यह जीवात्मा (ह्ँसो) अपने कर्मों के अनुसार उन परमात्मा द्वारा घुमाया जाता है । (श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् के मन्त्र संख्या 6/15 और 3/18 में हंस को ही प्रकाशमय परमेश्वर कहा गया है जबकि प्रकाशमय हंस जीवात्मा मात्र ही है परमेश्वर नहीं है । यह विशुध्दत: ईश्वर भी नहीं है। यह प्रकाशमय हंस जीव का आत्मामय रूप अर्थात् जीवात्मा है और परमतत्त्ववम् रूप परमेश्वर या परमात्मा से प्रकट और पृथक् होने के कारण उसका पुत्र है। वास्तव में वह परमतत्त्वम् ही परमेश्वर है, प्रकाशमय हंस परमेश्वर नहीं है। यहाँ पर ऐसे उस हँस रूप जीवात्मा को परमब्रम्ह-परमात्मा द्वारा इस संसार चक्र में घुमाया जाना बताया गया है ।(जब तक यह जीवात्मा (ह्ँसो) इसके संचालक (परमात्मा) को जानकर उनका कृपा पात्र नहीं बन जाता, अपने को उनका प्रिय नहीं बना लेता, तब तक इस जीवात्मा (हँसो) का इस चक्र से छुटकारा नहीं हो सकता । जब यह जीवात्मा (हँसो) अपने को व सबके प्रेरक परमात्मा को भली-भाँति पृथक्-पृथक् जान-समझ लेता है कि उन्हीं के घुमाने से मैं इस संसार चक्र में घूम रहा हूँ और उन्हीं की कृपा से छूट सकता हूँ, तब वह उन परमेश्वर का प्रिय बनकर उनके द्वारा स्वीकार कर लिया जाता है । (कठोपनिषद् 1/2/23 और मुण्डकोपनिषद् 3/2/3 में भी इसी प्रकार का वर्णन
है।) फिर तो वह अमृत 'तत्त्वम्' को प्राप्त हो जाता है,। जन्म-मरण रूप संसार चक्र से सदा के लिए छूट जाता है । परमशान्ति एवं सनातन परमधाम को प्राप्त कर लेता है