by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 62
April 2006

 


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ATMA- PARAMATMA- Part 2
(For Part 1 please refer AHWAN March 2006 issue)

Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty

We have seen during our last discussions how the Mandukya Upanishad explained to us the relative existence of ParamAtmA, the Supreme soul and the jivatma the individual soul. The simile of space in the pot, (ghatAkAsha) and the all pervading space itself (ananta AkAsha), is primarily to establish the inseparability between the individual soul and the Supreme soul, the former being a mere extension of the later and also the superficial superimposition (adhyAropa) like name, features, nature, attributes (nAma, rupa, rasa, gandha) and all other blemishes from the external environment over the otherwise taintless soul.

That is how the individual soul should be perceived to be existing within the body cage.

The oft asked question in this context is ofcourse that if the presence of the supreme soul is always within me, why can I not be aware of it all the time and have lapses of consciousness? Why do I have to strive lives after lives, just to develop this awareness?

This is better understood through another of our Upanishadic similes. We have this one sun shining in the sky above. If there are thousands of pools of water all around we see thousand reflections of the sun each pool reflecting that one sun. The light and warmth of sun is extended into each of the reflected suns, illumining the pool and warming the pool. But if the water of the pool gets contaminated with muck and moss, we see unclear or no reflection in it. For the sun to get reflected with maximum glory and pour its benefits into the water pool, the pool needs to be clear. By continuous YogasAdhanA, which may last days, years and lives, we simply try to clear the muck and make the reflection visible. Sometimes the heat of the sun makes the wind to blow gently and the floating moss shows patches of temporary clearance, and the reflection of the sun reveals itself –even for a moment- as if to remind that ‘I am still there’. That is how we all have sometimes telltale glimpses of the Divine hand, even in the midst of our busy humdrum life. All of us have these glimpses of enlightenment some time or other.

However all similes that we give have a shortcoming. They can at best be mere pointers to a particular aspect or characteristic about the Divine. They always leave something unexplained. That is because we are trying to contain the divine attributes through worldly examples. The worldly concepts are by definition imperfect. Where as the Divine is all-perfect. How can an ‘imperfect’ measure up to a ‘perfect’? Pointers and aphorisms are meant to act only as triggers, urging us to go deeper, use our intellect and arrive at the right conclusion where reason and faith, both play complimentary roles. We should never forget this. Many who fail to recognize this, end up in never ending and pointless arguments. It is said, they go from one level of darkness to simply another level of darkness until rescued by their own viveka or intellect.

We however find, that the above similes explain only the “existence” aspect of the soul. But does the soul within us is there, merely to exist? If that Supreme soul simply seeps into a body form merely to exist, that will be hardly of any purpose.

The beauty of the scriptural texts of the SanAtan philosophy – so uniquely different from scriptures in many other faiths – is that it does not force the sAdhak to simply take what is written and ask no question there after, but to spur the sAdhak’s mind to further probe and think deeply to refine one’s own antahkarana (the inner instrument of mind, intellect and ego self).

Probing deeper it is understood that the soul within us assumes the role of an active agent for our very continuation of existence. It becomes the active participant, remotely triggering all our actions and guiding us in the path of our physical, mental and psychic evolution.

The brilliant concept of the role of Lord Krishna comes to mind here. He did not fight, yet orchestrated the entire operation of the Mahabharat war.

To further understand this, again through another simile, we may refer to the Chandogya Upanishad, where it says that the presence of soul in an individual body is akin to the presence of the life nourishing ‘sap’ that is present in a living tree. As long as the tree is living the liquid sap pervades every cell of the body of the tree. You cut any part of the tree, and you will find the sap there, oozing out.

Mule abhyAhanyAt – cut the root, jeevan shravet- the life sustaining sap oozes out.

Madhye abhyAhanyAt or Agre abhyAhanyAt cut the tree in the middle or at the top, the jeevan shravet, the life force oozes out.

Pervaded by this individual soul – jivena AtmanA anuprabhuta, and nourished by this – pepiyamAna, the living body flourishes and exists – sa esah modamAnah tisthati.

Without the presence of this jivAtmA or soul, the body as a whole or even any part of the body can not exist. It is explained;

Asya yat ekam shAkhAm jivah jahAti atha sA susyati – separate one branch and it dries up.

DvitiyAm jahAti atha sA susyati - separate a second branch and it dries up.

TritiyAm jahAti atha sA susyati - separate a third one and it dries up.

Sarvam jahAti sarvam susyati- the whole body dries up when the soul is separated.

You see in front of you the tree that dies. Same thing happens to all when their soul leaves them.

But the soul itself does not die. It only leaves the body. The presence of soul is what makes the body living and dead when soul is separated.

Jiva apetam vavakilam idam mriyate. Na jiva mriyate.

So the soul in a body is not merely an inert presence, but catalystic for its existence.

Then we come to another feature of the soul which sets apart the concept of soul in the sanatan philosophical parlance somewhat unique from other philosophies. It also answers that perplexing question ‘Does the soul undergo death like everything else and if it does not, then why and how it is so?

A lot of debates amongst the non-dualists (adveitas), the dualists (dvetas), qualified non-dualists (visistAdveitas) and the likes go around this question.

We have this axiomatic truth, that Brahman is one and rest everything else, gross, subtle, within perception and beyond perception, are all derived from Brahman.

We also know, that every entity in this entire creation has no state of permanency. Every moment of their existence is subject to mutation- ever changing before we can say ‘this is it’. What it appears as now, is no more that the very next moment. Everything is kshanabhangura, that is, moment by moment it disappears and something different has already taken its place. Every moment there is a change of state to another state. Each change of state is what we say is the cycle of death and rebirth.

Therefore, if everything that is derived from Brahman –without exception – undergoes mutation or birth death cycle, why then, the soul which is also derived from Brahman does not get mutated or change states of birth and death?

To understand this, we take the help of the Taittiriya Upanishad.

The concept of ‘creation of the universe’ and the creation of the soul as we understand, is not really the same. The Upanishad says;

Sah akAmayata- it all started when He (The Brahman) desired.

What did He desire?

Bahu syam prajayeyati- I shall come to be born. What this coming to be born means?

As explained by Swami GambhirAnanda of Adveita Ashram: “The multiplication here does not refer to becoming something extraneous as one does by begetting a son. How then? Through the manifestation of name and form that are latent in Itself…..Then that evolution of name and form is what is called the appearance of Brahman as many.

In no other way can one justify the plurality and limitations” present in every constituent of the creation.

All constituents of the universe are, as per the Divine plan, interdependent and interactive and are subjected to qualities (gunas) like satva, rajas and tamas, and the Maya (the root of all ignorance), which themselves are also part and parcel of the creation. The entire creation is gunAdhina and mAyAdhina- under the influence of gunas and maya.

The process of overcoming the gunas and the maya is what necessitates deaths after deaths, births after births.

But what about the soul? How its creation from Brahman is different from the other entities in the creation?

The Taittiriya Upanishad explains:

Tat srstvA tat eva anuprAvisat – after creating the many entities of the universe, He entered into them.

So while the other objects are derived from the Brahman and are identified by their limiting adjuncts of name, form, qualities etc., in case of the soul it is the direct entry or descent of the Brahman, the supreme soul, without any limiting qualifications.

Since it has no limitations, it has no necessity to undergo any such process for overcoming any limitations. So it has no necessity to be subjected to the birth/death cycles.

It is as ever-lasting as the Brahman himself is.

Sri Aurobindo explained the same thing very well in his own words. I quote here from his work “The Life Divine – The aim of Life”

“ The Absolute manifests itself in two terms, a Being and a Becoming. The being is the fundamental reality; the Becoming is an effectual reality: it is a dynamic power and result, a creative energy and working out of the Being, a constantly persistent, yet mutable form, process, outcome of its immutable formless essence. All theories that make the Becoming sufficient to itself are therefore half truths, valid for some knowledge of the manifestation acquired by an exclusive concentration upon what they affirm and envisage, but otherwise valid only because the Being is not separate from the Becoming but present in it, constituted of it, inherent in its every infinitesimal atom and its boundless expansion and extension.”

It is these two terms of manifestation that defines the inter-relationship between the Supreme soul – the paramAtmA- the manifested creation and the soul – the AtmA- within every component of the creation.

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