Atma Bodha - Post 74

Verse 64

यद्यद्ब्रह्मणोऽन्यन्न तद्भवेत् ।

तत्त्वज्ञानाच्च तद्ब्रह्म सच्चिदानन्दमद्वयम् ॥ ६४॥

DRISHYATE SHRUUYATE YADYADH

BRAHMANO AYANNA TAD BHAVET.H.

TATTVA GYAANAACHCHA TAD BRAHMA SACHCHIDAANANDAMADVAYAM

[All that is perceived, or heard, is Brahman and nothing else. Attaining the knowledge of the Reality, one sees the Universe as the non-dual Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute.]

In the last sloka we learnt that there is nothing apart from Brahman and all the dualities are just like a mirage in a desert. Acharya continues to explain the same in this sloka also.

When all that exists is but Brahman, whatever is heard, seen or perceived through sense organs cannot be anything other than Brahman. One who knows this sees oneness everywhere and the entire universe is known as Brahman alone.

Mahanaraayanopanishad verse 13.5 says this beautifully as:

YACHCHA KIJNCHIJJAGATYASMIN DRISHYATE SHRUUYATE.API VAANTARBAHISHCHA TATSARVA.N VYAAPYA NAARAAYANAH STHITAH

Whatsoever there is in this world known through perception (because of their proximity) or known through report (because of their distance), all that is pervaded by Narayana within and without.

Just as whatever one sees in dream state cannot be other than ones own waking state mind, all the objects cannot be different from the consciousness due to which all the activities of perception, thinking etc are illumined. 

Hence the objects of world which we sense cannot have any existence apart from the consciousness. When all that exists in the body or mind or intellect or in the outer created are realized to be manifestations of Brahman alone, nothing else is seen nor perceived and all the differences dissolve. All that exists is known as Existence-Consciousness-Bliss alone.

As Isha Upanishad explains,

YASMINSARVAANI BHUUTAANYAATMAIVAABHUUDVIJAANATAH .

TATRA KO MOHAH KAH SHOKA EKATVAMANUPASHYATAH

When a man realizes that all beings are but the Self, what delusion is there, what grief, to that perceiver of oneness?

“Brahman is everywhere”.

This is the mantra given by the preceptor, the spiritual doctor, to his disciple.

The First dosage of the above mantra: In verse 63, he tells us that if we do not see Him everywhere, that is a sickness in the disciple.

The Second dosage of the above mantra: Then in verse 64, he comes to check on us if we have taken his mantra. If we really have, that is, if we have gained the knowledge of the Reality, then our sickness should have left us.

We should be seeing everything as Brahman and nothing else. A confident spiritual preceptor knows that the signs of progress lie in how much we recognize God in all beings. He keeps checking that when he gives the dosage. When we can see the Lord in all, we are fully cured of our disease (of ignorance).

Our failure to experience the dictum of this verse “Brahman is everywhere” is brought about wonderfully by Swami Krishnananda ji in one of his talks, thus:-

“………..The existence of things is the highest value of things. The search of the soul for perfection outside is due to the fact that it makes a distinction between the existence of things and the value of things. 

Otherwise, where would be the need for anyone to move towards things that exist if existence itself would be a satisfaction?

We create a distinction between the value of the object and the existence of the object. We are never satisfied with the existence as such of anything. 

A flower may be in the garden. The flower exists in the garden, but we are never satisfied unless it becomes ours. It must be plucked from the plant and brought home, and perhaps it should adorn our head, etc.

The bare minimum of existence does not satisfy us. We are not satisfied even with our own existence, and we are not satisfied with the existence of anyone else. 

There is no satisfaction with the existence of anything. We always want to enhance that existence by adjuncts from an apparent external source, under the impression that the adjunct is something which is other than existence…….”

Thus, taking the flower example (where, the flower represents every possible thing existing in the creation, living and non living), Swami ji reveals wonderfully to us that IN ITS PURE EXISTENCE, EVERY THING IN THIS CREATION IS COMPLETE AND ULTIMATE, EVERYTHING IN THIS CREATION IS PURE KNOWLEDGE BY ITSELF, EVERYTHING IN ITS EXISTENCE IS INFINITE, REALIZING WHICH, A YOGI EXISTS IN AND PURE BLISS.

Love.