The miseries of Samsara are
beyond description. Ignorance is the root-cause for all human sufferings. It is
very hard to suffer birth, old age, death and disease. If a man knows Brahman,
there is immortality for him. If he does not know Brahman, he is caught in the
round of births and deaths.
Therefore, real aspirants who
thirst for liberation abandon the erroneous notion of 'I' and 'Mine' and turn
away with disgust from this world as everything here is perishable, illusory
and transitory. They practise meditation on the Self and behold the one essence
of the Atman i.e., the Brahman in all objects of this world, movable and
immovable. They realise the oneness of the Self or unity of the Atman in all
and become immortal i.e., become Brahman Itself. The Mundaka Upanishad says, He
who knows that highest Brahman, becomes Brahman Itself.
He who lives in Brahman and he
who has realised the Atman really leads a true life. Mundane life or sense life
is untruth. It is illusory. Knower of Brahman attains liberation while living.
As soon as ignorance which is the cause of bondage is dispelled, by attainment
of knowledge of Brahman, one gets liberation at once.
Those who are endowed with the
four means and who are pure and intelligent can understand the teachings of
Upanishads. Many misunderstand and mistake the limiting adjuncts viz., body,
mind, egoism, etc., for the Atman, even though they study Upanishads and hear
the Srutis from sages, as they are not proper Adhikaris or qualified persons.
Prajapati instructed Virochana and Indra: This Purusha who is seen in the eye
is the immortal and fearless Brahman. Both misunderstand and misinterpreted
this teaching and took the body for Brahman as the faults in them were not
purged and their minds were impure and gross.
Indra stayed with Prajapati for
101 years, removed his faults and impurities through Tapas, faith and celibacy
and comprehended the very Brahman at the fourth time only, even though it was
taught to him previously trice.
Even in the world if fifty
students receive instructions from the same teacher, some understand rightly,
some misinterpret the teaching, some interpret it contrary to the expressed
view and some do not understand at all. If this is the case with the secular
science, what more need we say of the knowledge of Brahman. Which is subtle and
beyond the reach of intellect?
Immortality (Amrita) is the very
nature of Brahman, just as heat is the very nature of fire. Brahma Jnana or
knowledge of the Self destroys ignorance just as light destroys darkness and
thus reveals one's inherent immortal nature.
The aspirant separates himself
from the thoughts and mental modifications, identifies himself with the witness
of all cognitions, thoughts and all states of consciousness.
- Swami Sivananda