WHAT DO I SEE?
THE MOMENT OF CLARITY
Seeing Yourself and the World with True Vision
Sri Sudarshan, Founder, SKYLIGHT YOGA™
Seeing Yourself and the World with True Vision
Sri Sudarshan, Founder, SKYLIGHT YOGA™
In Sanskrit, saksat krta dharmanah means the direct vision of truth. The seers of Yoga have the same sense of assurance and possession of their spiritual vision as most have of their physical perception. Revelation is the breath of God guiding us to the Fire which kindles the human spirit. Man contemplates, but God reveals. These truths are verified not only by logical reason but by personal experience. The aim is a practical one rather than speculative- Yoga is the pursuit of wisdom by way of life.
We find that there are five sheaths (koshas) that cover the essential Self (Atman). But suppose that the student says there is no Self, no Atman, no Brahman. Well if there is no Self then you do not exist. How can you ever be non-existent? The next question might be, "If billions of bodies are here, how many ‘Atmans’ are there, many or just one?" Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita replies: "In all these bodies, beyond this outer covering, the consciousness which experiences everything, it is one consciousness, and I (God) Am That Consciousness.”
Burdened by a state of ignorance of who we truly are, we are like a wave not knowing that it is water. It is water but it does not know its reality or substance as water. There are several disadvantages of the state of ignorance and thinking you are just a wave:
1. Waves must go through endless birth, growth, decay and death.
2. Waves feel that they are cut off from all the other waves.
3. Waves feel frustration and envy, adopting a tsunami-like superiority or a bubble-like inferiority.
Fulfilled by the state of enlightenment achieved through spiritual wisdom, there are boundless advantages of realizing yourself as water:
1. You realize your Immortality. Immortality is realized, not attained; Immortality is inherent and fundamental so, truly, it cannot be gained or lost.
2. The wave had started as water, and even though the stages may look different as a wave, it still is water in the end, and even when the wave has completely subsided. I know I am, will be and always was, Sat Chit Ananda, Truth Consciousness Bliss, Eternal, no birth, no death.
3. When a wave knows itself as water then it feels one with all the other waves, it experiences its oneness with all waves and the entire ocean.
4. Even after enlightenment, after the wave knows itself as water, which is its real nature, does the wave disappear? Will you disappear? No. You will still be there. All will be there. Even after you know your real nature, the body continues, according to programming (Prarabdha Karma) and you will still have experiences. But now you live universally.
Name, Form and Activity (i.e. body, mind and world) are all transcended by the Self.
What is the method? First, we make ourselves aware of the difference between a wave and water. We must know what is a wave and what is water. The difference must be discerned, understood and realized. Then upon knowing the Self free from name, form and activity, after realizing what is false, ultimately we realize there is only one reality which is true, the wave realizes that it is nothing other than water, and in reality, there are not two things, there is just one.
Even further, being a wave does not affect the water. Water is not ‘affected’ by a wave just as the ocean is not ‘affected’ by its currents. They are one and the same. For example, having eaten a piece of bread, it is just the boundaries of sensation which determines what is me and what is not me. Many feel that ‘on the body there are sensations so this is me and in another place I have no sensations so it is not me.’ The boundaries of sensational perceptions and experiences can be stretched or contracted. You can sit in a room and feel nothing or you can sit and extend your boundaries of sensation to the whole room. Anything that is within the boundaries of your sensation, you always experience as yourself. Bread is clearly not me but when you eat it, you just include it into the boundaries of your sensation and it becomes you. So when you expand the boundaries of sensation, you can sit here and experience everyone as yourself right now. You can even expand it further, and experience the cosmic landscape like you experience your very own body. How? Because YOU are the Transcendental Self!
We find that there are five sheaths (koshas) that cover the essential Self (Atman). But suppose that the student says there is no Self, no Atman, no Brahman. Well if there is no Self then you do not exist. How can you ever be non-existent? The next question might be, "If billions of bodies are here, how many ‘Atmans’ are there, many or just one?" Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita replies: "In all these bodies, beyond this outer covering, the consciousness which experiences everything, it is one consciousness, and I (God) Am That Consciousness.”
Burdened by a state of ignorance of who we truly are, we are like a wave not knowing that it is water. It is water but it does not know its reality or substance as water. There are several disadvantages of the state of ignorance and thinking you are just a wave:
1. Waves must go through endless birth, growth, decay and death.
2. Waves feel that they are cut off from all the other waves.
3. Waves feel frustration and envy, adopting a tsunami-like superiority or a bubble-like inferiority.
Fulfilled by the state of enlightenment achieved through spiritual wisdom, there are boundless advantages of realizing yourself as water:
1. You realize your Immortality. Immortality is realized, not attained; Immortality is inherent and fundamental so, truly, it cannot be gained or lost.
2. The wave had started as water, and even though the stages may look different as a wave, it still is water in the end, and even when the wave has completely subsided. I know I am, will be and always was, Sat Chit Ananda, Truth Consciousness Bliss, Eternal, no birth, no death.
3. When a wave knows itself as water then it feels one with all the other waves, it experiences its oneness with all waves and the entire ocean.
4. Even after enlightenment, after the wave knows itself as water, which is its real nature, does the wave disappear? Will you disappear? No. You will still be there. All will be there. Even after you know your real nature, the body continues, according to programming (Prarabdha Karma) and you will still have experiences. But now you live universally.
Name, Form and Activity (i.e. body, mind and world) are all transcended by the Self.
What is the method? First, we make ourselves aware of the difference between a wave and water. We must know what is a wave and what is water. The difference must be discerned, understood and realized. Then upon knowing the Self free from name, form and activity, after realizing what is false, ultimately we realize there is only one reality which is true, the wave realizes that it is nothing other than water, and in reality, there are not two things, there is just one.
Even further, being a wave does not affect the water. Water is not ‘affected’ by a wave just as the ocean is not ‘affected’ by its currents. They are one and the same. For example, having eaten a piece of bread, it is just the boundaries of sensation which determines what is me and what is not me. Many feel that ‘on the body there are sensations so this is me and in another place I have no sensations so it is not me.’ The boundaries of sensational perceptions and experiences can be stretched or contracted. You can sit in a room and feel nothing or you can sit and extend your boundaries of sensation to the whole room. Anything that is within the boundaries of your sensation, you always experience as yourself. Bread is clearly not me but when you eat it, you just include it into the boundaries of your sensation and it becomes you. So when you expand the boundaries of sensation, you can sit here and experience everyone as yourself right now. You can even expand it further, and experience the cosmic landscape like you experience your very own body. How? Because YOU are the Transcendental Self!
Author | Sri Sudarshan
Published June 13, 2021. Written May 1, 2021.
Copyright 2023 © SKYLIGHT YOGA™
All lights served. All rights reserved.
Published June 13, 2021. Written May 1, 2021.
Copyright 2023 © SKYLIGHT YOGA™
All lights served. All rights reserved.
