Brahman and Self Realization

“Who is this mysterious Brahman? Who is this Being, whom we call God, who is described so beautifully in the Upanishads and extolled for centuries by seers and sages in the sacred land of the Vedas? Who is HE to attain whom people renounce everything, prepare themselves for hardships, risk everything and pursue Him day and night?

In His thought, thought disappears. In His pursuit, all pursuit comes to an end. Seeking Him one leaves behind all seeking. Who is this Great Being, whom even gods find difficult to explain? Beyond darkness and light, beyond all diversity and visibility, beyond all qualities and quarters, beyond all activity and forms, beyond all imagination and vision, beyond the silence of all silences, beyond life and death, is Brahman, whom none can explain in human language to our complete satisfaction.

When you find Him, you do not find yourself. When you are with Him, you are without Him. When you see Him, you do not see anything else. Your knowledge does not help you to reach there. Neither your wealth nor your thoughts. The entrance to the world of Brahman is right in front of you, but stands between Him and you is the veil of ignorance.

Occasionally one may get a glimpse of Him like Indra, Vayu and Agni had. Like a lightning, that is how HE is envisioned by the students of Kena Upanishad. But none can really know Him with their limited consciousness. How can a part know the whole, unless it becomes the whole? When the part becomes the whole does it not cease to be a part? This is the problem of Knowing Brahman.

Who is Brahman then?

Brahman, is the very self, the "I" ness that is every where, in everything and around everything. There is no dichotomy in Brahman. Brahman is one Supreme endless unitary feeling of "I" ness. In Brahman, "you" are lost because "you" are not there. You cannot explain your experience to others, because in reality there is no experience. All is one endless vast immeasurable Self, in which at the highest level there is one without the other. There is consciousness without distinction. There is no feeling of separation. Everything is Self, that is "I". There is no "me" or "mine" either, because egoism and possessiveness are part of the separated consciousness.

We possess things because we cannot be the things. We seek things because we cannot escape from the physical feeling of space and duality. We look elsewhere for gratification because we have this incompleteness in us which seeks fulfillment. In Brahman, there is no object and subject, there is no experience and the experiencer, no knower and the known.

Everything is one endless indistinguishable "I" ness. Brahman is "I am" and "I am" is the Eternal Reality. "I am", the non possessive, non egoistic, non dualistic "I am" is the Truth, the Whole Truth, the Purpose and the Goal of all life that seeks and extinguishes itself in seeking. Brahman is "I am He Who I am". Brahman is "I" (Aham) and "Aham" is Brahman.

Experience of this awareness is what we call Self-Realization. When we realize there is nothing else in this vast universe, except the Eternal Self, we have reached the end of our journey. The journey begins when we are separated from the Self and ends when we becomes One with It.

All craving, competition, striving, envy, and comparison arise because of the absence of this awareness. When a seeker realizes that he is everything, with whom will he compete and for what end will he strive? True renunciation comes out of this experience and awareness. Without it, renunciation itself becomes a striving and in that striving is the shadow of separation, egoism, effort and comparison, the fear of failure and the desire for the fruit. The following story from Sufi teachings amply illustrates the point.

A man knocked on the God's door. "Who's there?" asked God from within. "It's me," said the man. "Go away then. There is no room for two," said God. The man departed and wandered in the arid desert until he realized his error. Returning to the door, he knocked once again. "Who's there?" asked God as before. "You," answered the man. "Then come in," God replied.”

Brahman and Self Realization
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