Atma Bodha - Post 58

Verse 48

आत्मैवेदं जगत्सर्वमात्मनोऽन्यन्न विद्यते ।

मृदो यद्वद्घटादीनि स्वात्मानं सर्वमीक्षते ॥ ४८॥

AATMAA EVA IDAM JAGAT SARVAM

AATMANAH ANYAT NA VIDHYATE

MRIDAH YADVAT GHAT-AADEENI

SWAATMAANAM SARVAM EEKSHATE

[This entire universe is verily the Atman Itself. Nothing whatsoever other than Atman exists.  Just as pots, etc, can be said to be only clay, so also, the wise one sees everything as his own Self.]

There is a vision which sees unity everywhere. The corollary to this of seeing diversity in this world is the origin of all our problems. A vision which sees ‘Unity in Diversity’ is the saintly vision that is upheld here.

  

An extreme example of universal vision - A Mahatma was in meditation in a forest. A tiger came and was dragging him away for its meal. The Mahatma remained in his state of meditation, going on with his chanting. This was actually witnessed by  Tapovan maharaj, as shared by a monk  of Chinmaya ashram in one of his writings.

“Mrido Ghatadini” Simile: The Clay Pots

Earlier we had come across a similar simile – gold and the gold ornaments. Here it is clay and the variety of clay pottery. The message is the same: They come out of clay, exist in clay and finally merge back into clay.

Just in the previous post, the author explained the same thing with wave and water example where, the wave come out of water, exist in water and finally recede and merge into water. 

In the 2 verses - 47 and 48, Acharya is explaining about a realized one. Acharya is here explaining about the yogi as one who sees the entire world through the eyes of wisdom as his own Self.

Lord explains this same import in many places in Gita while explaining about a Jnani, a Yogi and a Bhakta. 6th chapter 32nd sloka says:

aatmaupamyena sarvatra samam  pashyati yo.arjuna .

sukham vaa yadi vaa dukham sa yogii paramo matah ..

“Whoso, by comparison with himself, sees the same everywhere, O Arjuna, be it pleasure or pain, he is deemed the highest Yogin.”

Mundaka Upanishad III-ii-6 says: “Those to whom the entity presented by the Vedantic knowledge has become fully ascertained, who are assiduous and have become pure in mind through the Yoga of monasticism – all of them, at the supreme moment of final departure, become identified with the supreme Immortality in the worlds that are Brahman, and they become freed on every side.”

To a realized one there is no duality whatsoever and the entire world is but Self, the universe of names and forms appears to be a mere imagination just like the imaginary existence of the snake on the rope. Also since an imaginary object is the same as its substratum the entire universe and its diverse objects are perceived by the known as the same as Self.

Where there is but Self, how can there be duality and aversion towards anything else? 

This was explained in the context of "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL", in the previous post. 

Hence to such a realized one who perceives Self everywhere, everything is but Self and names and forms are just super impositions. 

If one gets an opportunity to watch the videos of Anandamayi ma / Paramahamsa Yogananda / Swami Sivananda and in this contemporary world, one visits Amma and experiences her supreme love when she draws them to her and hugs them, they can verily experience these saint's state where, they perceive the human beings not as human beings, but AS SELF / AS DIVINITY / AS GOD.

When one young visitor visited Swami Sivananda and stood adamantly without prostrating at the Master's feet, Sivananda smiled and prostrated at that young visitor's feet. We can imagine the plight of that visitor. More than that, we can know or at least imagine how the saint would be experiencing the divinity in that young visitor to be prostrating at his feet!

Long back, in old Sai Sadan building, when one child sang a bhajan very well, after the bhajan, the author went to that child, prostrated at the child's feet, to the utter disbelief and amazement of the child and its mother. 

They may not be reading this post otherwise, they can recall that scene easily. 

Thus, a real jnani loves the whole world as his own Self. Having incarnated in human form, Swami also radiates the same endless love to the entire humanity.

Each one present in the SK hall might have committed few / many / too many mistakes in their lives and they may be suffering due to various gradations of impurity within themselves but when Swami comes floating in to the hall and looks at the devotees gathered there, can any one in this world claim or prove or even say that Swami differentiates between a saint and a sinner seated in that hall?

Love.