Self Realization

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Paramātma Darśanam
Self Realization

Subtlest of the subtle, greatest of the great, the Ātman is hidden in the cave of the heart of all beings. He who, free from all urges, beholds Him overcomes sorrow, seeing by grace of the Creator, the Lord and His glory.

Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda,
Śvetāśvatara Upanishad 3.20. ve, 735


Who Am I? Where Did I Come From?

SLOKA 1

Rishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emo­tions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into one­ness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek. Aum.

BHĀSHYA

We are immortal souls living and growing in the great school of earthly experience in which we have lived many lives. Vedic rishis have given us courage by uttering the simple truth, “God is the Life of our life.”

A great sage carried it further by saying there is one thing God cannot do:

God cannot separate Him­self from us. This is because God is our life.

God is the life in the birds. God is the life in the fish. God is the life in the ani­mals. Becoming aware of this Life energy in all that lives is be­coming aware of God’s loving presence within us.

We are the undying consciousness and energy flowing through all things. Deep inside we are perfect this very moment, and we have only to discover and live up to this perfection to be whole.

Our energy and God’s energy are the same, ever coming out of the void. We are all beautiful children of God. Each day we should try to see the life energy in trees, birds, animals and people. When we do, we are seeing God Śiva in action.

The Vedas af­firm:

“He who knows God as the Life of life, the Eye of the eye, the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind—he indeed com­prehends fully the Cause of all causes.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Where Am I Going? What Is My Path?

SLOKA 2

We are all growing toward God, and experience is the path. Through experience we mature out of fear into fearlessness, out of anger into love, out of conflict into peace, out of darkness into light and union in God. Aum.

BHĀSHYA

We have taken birth in a physical body to grow and evolve into our divine potential. We are inwardly already one with God. Our religion contains the knowledge of how to realize this oneness and not create unwanted experiences along the way.

The peerless path is following the way of our spiritual forefathers, discovering the mystical meaning of the scriptures. The peerless path is commitment, study, discipline, practice and the maturing of yoga into wisdom.

In the beginning stag­es, we suffer until we learn. Learning leads us to service; and selfless service is the beginning of spiritual striving. Service leads us to understanding. Understanding leads us to meditate deeply and without distractions.

Finally, meditation leads us to surrender in God. This is the straight and certain path, the San Mārga, leading to Self Realization—the inmost purpose of life—and subsequently to moksha, freedom from rebirth.

The Vedas wisely affirm:

“By austerity, goodness is obtain­ed. From goodness, understanding is reached. From under­standing, the Self is obtained, and he who obtains the Self is freed from the cycle of birth and death.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is Meant by “Dancing with Śiva”?

SLOKA 3

All motion begins in God and ends in God. The whole universe is engaged in a whirling flow of change and activity. This is Śiva’s dance. We are all dancing with Śiva, and He with us. Ultimately, we are Śiva dancing. Aum.

BHĀSHYA

The world is seen as it truly is—sacred—when we behold Śi­va’s cosmic dance.

Everything in the universe, all that we see, hear and imagine, is movement. Galaxies soar in movement; atoms swirl in movement. All movement is Śiva’s dance.

When we fight this movement and think it should be other than it is, we are reluctantly dancing with Śiva. We are stubbornly resist­ing, holding ourselves apart, criticizing the natural processes and movements around us.

It is by understanding the eternal truths that we bring all areas of our mind into the knowledge of how to accept what is and not wish it to be otherwise.

Once this happens, we begin to consciously dance with Śiva, to move with the sacred flow that surrounds us, to accept praise and blame, joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity in equa­nimity, the fruit of understanding. We are then gracefully, in unrestrained surrender, dancing with Śiva.

The Vedas state:

“The cosmic soul is truly the whole universe, the immortal source of all creation, all action, all meditation. Whoever dis­covers Him, hidden deep within, cuts through the bonds of ignorance even during his life on Earth.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

How Can We Learn to Dance with Śiva?

SLOKA 4

Dance is movement, and the most exquisite dance is the most disciplined dance. Hindu spiritual disciplines lead to oneness with God through self-reflection, surrender, personal transformation and several yogas. Aum.

BHĀSHYA

To progress on the path, we study the Vedas, other scriptures and our guru’s teachings and make every effort to apply these philosophical truths to daily experience.

We strive to under­stand the mind in its fourfold nature:

chitta, consciousness; manas, instinctive mind; buddhi, intellectual mind; and ahaṁkāra, ego or I-maker.

We perform japa, meditation and yoga each day.

Such spiritual discipline is known as sadhana. It is the mystical, mental, physical and devotional exercise that enables us to dance with Śiva by bringing inner advancement, changes in perception and improvements in character.

Sadhana allows us to live in the refined and cultured soul nature, rather than in the outer, instinctive or intellectual spheres.

For consistent progress, sadhana should be performed regularly, without fail, at the same time each day, preferably in the early hours before dawn. The most important sadhanas are the challenges and practices given by one’s guru.

The Vedas caution:

“The Self can­not be attained by the weak, or by the careless, or through aimless disciplines. But if one who knows strives by right means, his soul enters the abode of God.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is the Ultimate Goal of Earthly Life?

SLOKA 5

The ultimate goal of life on Earth is to realize the Self, the rare attainment of nirvikalpa samadhi. Each soul dis­covers its Śiva-ness, Absolute Reality, Para Śiva —the time­less, formless, spaceless Self God. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA

The realization of the Self, Para Śiva, is the destiny of each soul, attainable through renunciation, sustained meditation and frying the seeds of karmas yet to germinate. It is the gateway to moksha, liberation from rebirth.

The Self lies beyond the thinking mind, beyond the feeling nature, beyond action or any movement of even the highest state of consciousness.

The Self God is more solid than a neutron star, more elusive than empty space, more intimate than thought and feeling. It is ul­timate reality itself, the innermost Truth all seekers seek. It is well worth striving for. It is well worth struggling to bring the mind under the dominion of the will.

After the Self is realized, the mind is seen for the unreality that it truly is.

Because Self Realization must be experienced in a physical body, the soul cycles back again and again into flesh to dance with Śiva, live with Śiva and ultimately merge with Śiva in undifferentiated oneness. Yea, Jīva is actually Śiva.

The Vedas explain:

“As wa­ter poured into water, milk poured into milk, ghee into ghee become one without differentiation, even so the individual soul and the Supreme Self become one.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.


Lead me from unreality to reality. Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

Śuklā Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28. hh, 202

He is the Supreme Brahman, the Self of all, the chief foundation of this world, subtler than the subtle, eternal. That thou art; thou art That.

Atharva Veda, Kaivalya Upanishad 16. uph, 930

One should meditate on the atman, which consists of spirit, whose embodiment is life, whose form is light, whose essence is space, which changes its form at will, swift as thought.

Śuklā Yajur Veda, Satapatha Brāhmaṇa 10.6.3.2. ve, 705

Perishable is matter. Immortal, imperishable the Lord, who, the One, controls the perishable and also the soul. Meditating on Him, uniting with Him, becoming more and more like Him, one is freed at the last from the world’s illusion.

Krishna Yajur Veda, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 1.10. ve, 762

I am the Supreme Brahman! I am the Lord of the universe! Such is the settled conviction of the muktas. All other experiences lead to bondage. When the Self is clearly realized not to be the body, the realizer gains peace and becomes free from all desires.

Devikalottara Āgama, Jñāna-achara-vichara 50-51. rm, 114

Realize the Self always to be neither above nor below, nor on either side, not without nor within, but to be eternal and shining beyond the sublime world. 

Sarvajnanottara    Āgama, Ātmā Sakshatkara 29. rm, 108

That which is neither conscious nor unconscious, which is invisible, impalpable, indefinable, unthinkable, unnameable, whose very essence consists of the experience of its own self, which absorbs all diversity, is tranquil and benign, without a second, which is what they call the fourth state—that is the atman. This it is which should be known.

Atharva Veda, Māṇḍūkya Upanishad 7. ve, 723

On the emergence of spontaneous supreme knowledge occurs that state of movement in the vast unlimited expanse of consciousness which is Śiva’s state, the supreme state of Reality.     

Śiva Sutras  2.5. ss, 99

When the Creator dances, the worlds He created dance. To the measure that He dances in our knowledge, our thoughts, too, dance. When He in heart endearing dances, the several elements, too, dance. Witness in rapture surpassing the dance of Him who is a glowing flame.

Tirumantiram 2786. tm

O God of mercy, who performs the dance of illimitable happiness in the hall of inconceivable intelligence! The Rig and the other Vedas are thundering forth in words, announcing to us that all are thy slaves, all things belong to thee, all actions are thine, that thou pervades everywhere, that this is thy nature. Such is the teaching of those who, though they never speak, yet broke silence for our sake.

Karunakara Kadavul 6.3. pt, 33

Just as light shines, dispelling darkness, so also the Supreme Self shines, dispelling ignorance. Just as a lamp spontaneously goes out if not fed with oil, so also the ego becomes extinct if one meditates unceasingly and becomes merged in the Self. There is no higher gain than the Self.

Sarvajnanottara Āgama

The Supreme Lord is not two. To me belongs the glory of meditating that I, His devoted servant, am He. As one imagines, so one becomes. Therefore, practice the meditation of “I am He.” Then all your actions will become His action.   

Natchintanai, “I am He" nt, 8

Undistracted, I sit aloof and meditate. Doubt-free, following the ancient Vedas, I cross the awesome wasteland that this life is and beyond, into the Void that defies imagination, I merge. Meditating in oneness, I visioned Paraparam. Meditating in oneness, I realized Śiva-state. Meditating in oneness, I experienced awareness transcendental. Meditating in oneness, I witnessed eons upon eons.

Tirumantiram 2948; 2953. tm