ATMA BODHA 68
“DIG-DESA-KALADY-ANAPEKSHYA SARVAGAM SEETADI-HRIT- NITYA-SUKHAM
YAH-SWATMA-TEERTHAM-BHAJATE-VINISHKRIYAH SA-SARVAVIT-SARVAGATO-AMRUTO-BHAVET”
ETYA-ATMA BHODHAH-SAMAPTAH
“HE SHOULD RENOUNCE ALL ACTIVITIES AND BE FREE FROM ALL LIMITATIONS OF TIME, SPACE AND DIRECTION. HE SHOULD WORSHIP HIS OWN ATMAN WHICH IS PRESENT EVERYWHERE AND WHICH IS THE DESTROYER OF HEAT AND COLD. IT IS ETERNAL BLISS AND STAINLESS.SUCH A PERSON BECOMES AII-KNOWING AND ALL-PERVADING AND ATTAINS IMMORTALITYTHEREAFTER.”
The sun always shines on the sea whether it is stormy or calm. Similarly the pure ATMAN, the Truth behind time, space and causality is the One Consciousness which illumines the entire creation. IT is All-pervading an has no duality. It is the pure –Consciousness in all awareness. It is the substratum on which all this pluralistic things play about. Without IT nothing will exist anywhere. Know that to be your own SELF.
One has to give up all his desires and activities, attachments, likes and dislikes, and his very contact with the ephemeral world of objects. He should be ever at the shrine of the ATMAN striving with determination to enjoy the bliss of his own SELF. Then alone that” Mahatman” shall become ALL-Knowing All-Pervasive Brahman Itself. Immortality is guaranteed to him then. It is because he has reached that and begun to experience that which has no beginning and end. He too becomes IMMORTAL. The dreamer, when he ends his dreams and wakes up becomes himself the waker. The limited ego or ‘ ahankara’ when it transcends the mind-intellect equipment becomes itself the IMMORTAL BRAHMAN.
THUS CONCUDES ATMA BODHA OF SRI ADI SANKARA
I took upon writing on Sri Adi Sankara’s ATMA BODHA with a view that it will be useful for those who are interested in Knowing about the eternal Self or Atman or the Brahman. Common man has many doubts regarding the nature of SELF or Brahman. The Upanishads glorify the nature of the Self or Brahman. It is very difficult to understand and requires special attention and understanding. Modern man has no time to think of the in-dweller Atman or Self! He is totally drowned in the shoreless sea of samsara and is incapable of detachment. He thinks that the body is more important than the Soul. He identifies the body with the Soul which is entirely wrong. Atma Bodha disabuses the mind of the seeker and explains the wonderful nature of the Atman and how it is within the body but untouched by the various actions of the senses. I have given, here and there, a few relevant quotations from famous Upanishads regarding the nature of Brahman and Atman or Self! I consider myself blessed and fortunate to have this rare opportunity to write blogs on Sri Adi Sankara’s Atma Bodha! I hope and trust the readers have benefitted by the explanation given for Sankara’s Atma Bodha!
+
