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From Divine Life Society Publication - Chapter 10: “The Search for Truth” by Swami Krishnananda
In the recognition of the true
nature of the Self, there are before us three great impediments – personality,
society and the world, due to which, rarely do people become successful in the
attempt. The assertion of our personal individuality contradicts our aspiration
for the true Self which we wish to realise. Secondly, we are involved day in
and day out in our contact with society and we live a social life much more
than anything else. Thirdly, we
perceive a large universe in front of us.
All these three difficulties mentioned are connected with the three
states of consciousness, jagrat,
svapna, sushupti –
waking, dream and sleep. Neither the waking nor the dream nor the sleep
condition is the essential nature of the Self. The Self is just as it is. It is
Pure Being, Existence as such, Existence which is aware of itself. It is not
existence like a stone’s existence. It is a consciousness-existence, or rather,
existence-consciousness. In Sanskrit, we call it sat-chit. The Existence which is aware of itself is sat-chit. It is not limited by any kind of
conditioning factor in the world and, therefore, it is utter freedom. So, it is
bliss, ananda.
Sat-chitananda is
the nature of the Self.
The Self is a
wonder. Because, Desha-kala-vastu-pariccheda:
the de-limitation caused
by space, time and individuality does not apply to the Self. Whoever
knows the Self shall have everything.
Can anyone contact a Being, as such? If this could be possible, one
can contact the Self, also. Actually, there is no such thing as contact with
the Self, because contacts are always between two things and in the Self, there
are no two things. No one is there who can contact it.
The contact of things in this world, says the epic Mahabharata, is
like the contact of logs of wood floating on the surface of the ocean. The
contact has been caused not because of their effort but because of the wind
that blew from above. When the wind blew in another direction, the logs are
separated. Neither birth nor death, neither coming together nor separation, is
in anyone’s hands. It is the will of the cosmos that operates.
Contacts of any kind are not to tempt us to such an extent as to make
us forget the true nature of the Self. All joys born of contact of sense organs
with things are wombs of pain, says the Bhagavad Gita.
Non-contact is the nature of the recognition of the Self. Yoga of the
Self – atmasakshatkara,
or brahma sakshatkara – the realisation of the Absolute is the
way, the art, the technique, the science of non-contactual contact. It is
contacting oneself.
To contact yourself, you do not require eyes. You close the eyes,
don’t see anything, and yet you will know that you are existing. Let there be
no sensation of any kind through the organs of perception. You will still be
conscious that you are there. There will be the existence-consciousness of the
personality. You will know that you are: “I exist, and I am aware that I am
existing.” To have this apprehension, sense organs are not necessary. Sense
organs are not the means to practise yoga.
By sense-control, by the abstraction of the operation of the organs of
perception, by freedom from desires that are mortal, deceptive and perishable,
by contentment with whatever one has, by noncontact with people and having no
attachment to anything, the Self reverts to Self-consciousness, the Aloneness
that it is.
A gradual inwardness has to be practiced, rising from the personality
and society and going further above into the cosmic existence, then finally centering
oneself in the True Self. This indescribable thing is our own Self. “You” are
the most important thing in the world. And if we can bring this Self of ours,
which we consider as the greatest value, into the surface of actual, visible
contemplation, direct perception, that would be the state of the practice of
the yoga of the Atman.
Continue to read:
Sadhana Tattva or the Science of Seven Cultures by Swami
Sivananda
