SELF Knowledge V

Light on That Thou Art.

Follow up on intuition.

There are contemplation of which the mind is led from the world of names and forms to Brahman – God.

They are as follows:

That thou art –

I am Brahman –

This Self is Brahman –

Brahman is consciousness.

What does it mean Tat thou art.

The word Tat, in the Vedas has two meanings, a direct and an implied.

Tat, conveys the idea of a personal God associated with the universe as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, and endowed with omniscience, lordship, great power, together with Pure Consciousness, which underlies both the universe and God.

So the direct meaning of Tat is Saguna Brahman or Brahman with attributes.

But Pure Consciousness, unassociated with any limiting maya, is the implied meaning of Tat.

Likewise, the word thou has two meanings: a direct and an implied.  

Thou directly conveys the idea of the jiva, or individualized soul, associated with an individualized body and endowed with little knowledge, little power, dependence etc. together with Pure Consciousness, which underlies all this.

It can be said, that the word signifies a living soul with such limitations as birth, death, hunger, thirst, pleasure and pain.

But again, Pure Consciousness, which is unassociated with any limited maya, which is the nature of innermost Bliss, and which is also a substratum of the jiva, is the implied meaning of thou.

The meaning conveyed by the word art, in Tat thou art, is the identity of Tat and thou.

Vedic philosophy here tells us that we tend to superimpose the unreal on the real. The reason for this is maya.

The real is the underlying substrata or PURE CONSCIOUSNESS.

A monist or non dualist will say all creation stems from Pure Consciousness. It alone is the underlying reality. All creation is the result of a process from Pure Consciousness.

A dualist is concerned with a Creator and Creature.

We must be clearly aware between the difference between the personal God and the impersonal God, the Transcendent or Pure Consciousness.

Example: The appearance or outside world v/s the inner world.

A disciple comes to the teacher and tells him that he has searched for the Truth everywhere – in books, in temples, in images, in fact everywhere and has not found it. Of course, he has not sought for truth in the right place that is to say in his own Self. So the teacher touches him and says, “That thou art”. Now meditate on your real essence.

You are Tat which is free from duality, which is infinite and indestructible, which is supreme, eternal, and undying.

That Reality which, though One, appears manifold owing to ignorance, taking on names and forms, attributes and changes, Though Itself always unchanged. Meditate on that.

That beyond which there is nothing; which shines above maya and is infinitely greater than the universe ; the innermost Self of all; the one without a second, the true Self; Existence-Knowledge – Bliss Absolute. Meditate on this.

How does one meditate in this manner?

We contemplate Brahman God with single minded devotion. We rid ourselves of all super impositions of the transitory objects which cherish the notion of I and mine.

We relinquish the importance of social customs, the fascination with the physical body, and the overindulgence with the scriptures.

The teachers say that these are the three strong chains by which man is bound to the world.

When contemplating the Reality of God, we become purified, as we merge with the Self. When merged with the Self, we recognize the impurities of the endless outer desires and give them up in preference of God. This is seeking the Kingdom of God. Once we have obtained this, we have truly heaven on earth and all things will be given on to us.

SAMADHI

Depending on the intensity of concentration, Samadhi is known as savikalpa and the nirvikalpa.

In the savikalpa samadhi the mental state (vritti) takes the form of Brahman and rests on It, but at the same time retains the distinctions of knower, knowledge and the object of knowledge.

The aspirant is still aware of the relative. He says: “ I am Brahman, Intelligence, Absolute, formless as the ether, supreme, eternally luminous, birth-less, ever free and one without a second.

In nirvikalpa samadhi, there is no I consciousness, the mind totally merges in Brahman, becomes one with it, and loses all distinction between knower, knowledge and object of knowledge, just as a lump of sugar when dissolved in liquid, can no longer be perceived to be distinct from water. Brahman or the Self alone exist.

We often hear about the similarity of Samadhi and dreamless sleep, but are they really similar?

In dreamless sleep, the mind ceases to function. In nivikalpa samadhi the mental state, though not perceived, takes the form of Brahman and exists as Brahman. A man in deep sleep is not aware of any object and after awakening he manifests his former characteristics.

A thief continues to be a thief. But in nirvikalpa samadhi on account of the mind taking the form of Brahman, one becomes omniscient.

After this experience, a person becomes a new being, completely transformed.