Selections from the ShAkta upaniShads -1 (bahvR^icha)

[Anand Hudli]

 Nanda Chandran wrote:

>I'll sum up what've stated and let me point what I'm finding difficult
>to comprehend :
>
>- The empirical world is an illusion
>- Our name and form aspects are part of this illusion, but the
>underlying essence, the existence-conciousness-bliss, is the actual
>reality
>
>>"I am such and such a person with such and such a body, such and such
>>possessions, etc.",
>So who's the "I"? Is it the name-form or the sat-chit-ananda?
>
>>The gist is that when you start imposing limits on your
Sat-Chit-Ananda
>>aspect, then you are indulging in illusion.
>Again who's the "you"? The name-form or the sat-chit-ananda?
>


 The "you" I was referring to in my last message is not the
 sat-chid-Ananda aspect of "you" because this is Brahman. Brahman
 cannot engage itself in any activity, not even the subtlest one!

 The "you" that must discover the real "you" by means of Atma-vichara
 (deliberation on the Self under the guidance of a proper Guru) is
 what is coventionally called the jIva, or the individual. So when I
 say, "you should deliberate on the Self", I mean you as you are
 conventionally accepted in the vyAvahArika world, as a person, with
 a name, form, and other limitations (upAdhi's) imposed on the
 real "you."

 So this individual or jIva should conduct an inquiry into itself.
 In the ultimate sense, pAramArthika sense, even this inquiry is
 in the realm of mAyA or illusion. But, as I described in the last
 message using the analogy of the tiger in the dream, the inquiry or
 deliberation is part of the "tiger." It is only when the tiger
 comes alive and roars that we wake up!

>My point is if "I" am actually the sat-chit-ananda, which is the
Eternal
>Absolute, how can my name and form and the illusions affect me? If they
>affect me doesn't it imply - change, to which "I" being the Eternal
>Absolute am impervious to?

 This is exactly what is required to be _realized_ to the core of
 one's being. As you have stated it, it is a just a collection of
 words which can be understood at an intellectual level. But for
 illusion to disappear, we should go beyond intellectual understanding
 and realize that we are just sat-chit-Ananda, and cannot be
 affected by illusion.

 I must also point out that this realization
 is not a mere "mind-game" or self-hypnotization into believing that
 one is sat-chit-Ananda. This I say after reading some of the
 statements made in this list to the effect that "if you think you
 are liberated you are; if you think you are bound you are", and so
 on. To this I will add one more pithy saying as a rejoinder:
 "If something sounds too good to be true, it is." :-) (This is
 the rule followed by the intelligent American consumer, and
 put into practice in throwing away those letters from Publishers
 Clearing House even if they can potentially make one a millionare
 several times over!)

 There is a definite discipline to be followed, as established
 by our AchAryas. Only by following the discipline, will we ever have
 a chance for Self-realization.

 But until then, the answer to the question as to how illusion can
 affect us, is avidyA or ignorance. It is only when avidyA and its
 effect are removed, do we realize ourselves to be sat-chit-Ananda.

 Anand





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