Can I Become God?

 In yoga vashishtha, Sage Vashishtha tells Sri Ramachandra, "The spontaneously  arising idea- "This person who is endowed with the aggregate of body, sense, etc. am I"- is the dirt-covered Self (jiva). The idea that I am the embodied Self (jiva) becomes extinguished like a lamp without oil when one firmly realizes that the visible universe is no other than Brahman, who as Consciousness is as pure as the sky. (Ch. IX. Realization of the Atma), verses 1-2)..

 This Realization of the Atman is taught by the great Sages in Upanishads. For example, 'Thou art That', Shvetaketu, is of the Chandogya, Kaushitaki, and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. This is often wrongly attributed to Shankaracharya, the author of the Commentaries on Ten Principle Upanishads. In fact, there are so many Shankaras right from the days of dvapara yuga of Shree Krishna! They are: Avatara purusha Shankara of the  3500.B.C.  and then of the 1st Cent. Abhinava Shankara, and then the Adi Shankara and the Kelady Shankara, etc. (See S N Dasgupta: A History of Indian Philosophy, MLBD). The story of Shankara singing the Song of Beauty (Sounarya lahari) is very interesting. Here Shankara wrote the song and went to Kailasa to show it to Shiva and Parvati. Shiva was surprised at the beautiful description of Parvati in the script. He presented Shankara a copy of the huge volume that was lying next to him as a gift. But, Nandi who was the Gate Keeper did not want to allow him to take it out and snatched it! Thus only a few pages remained with him. We have a beautiful version of creation and sustenance in the first 41 verses of Soundarya Lahari and the rest 60 verses are of description of the Beauty. Thus,  the first .avatara purusha (Person Incarnate) Shankara is different from the 7th cent. one.. 

 We do not know exactly who the Shankara as the author of the Commentaries on Upanishads and have seen people ridicule when "tat tvam asi", "aham brahmasmi" and "Atma eva brahmaa", and other Vedic doctrines are attributed to Shankaracharya. We forget the fact that these are the original Vedic doctrines. The Lod states here in the Veda and in the Bhagavad-Gita unmistakably, explicitly clearly, that "I Am the Self of All". Hence the question is simple: "Can I become God?" The answer is: Where is the question of becoming God when the "Self is All"? It is this lack of understanding that makes one think I am different and God is different. This duality is the cause of all our problems. When samyak prajnya dawns, when one realizes the fact that "He only Exists in all" and all living beings are the manifests forms of His Desire, Will, the ignorance disappears! Now, we are prone to think so and so is a divine soul and defy them. We adore great sages, worship them, present their life and works on silver screen. We call them 'daivansha sambhoota'. But the Vedic doctrines clearly state all these creations are His own Self.

 Now, this duality caused by ignorance of the reality can be easily removed by a simple technique, tantra. This technique is 'Knowledge of the Self", Atma jnyan. Sage Ramana used to say, 'Discover who you are?" Ask yourself "naan yaar?" The moment you discover that 'there is someone else who breathes when you are in deep sleep" and not even aware of your existence. First, one must discover how the single spermatozoa, the impregnated sperm in the mother's cell, multiplied and created multiple sells and tissues, organs, and body. It is the soul that created the body and hence the body is the handicraft of the soul. When one realizes the fact that the mind, the buddhi, and ahankara surrounded it and created the mess, and discards these, would realize the Self. This self discovery is important.

 One can thus realize the true nature of the Self, not just become God! This possible by mere discard of all the adjuncts like the awareness (consciousness) of the physical body, fickle mind, perverted intelligence, and the foolish ego, along with the acquired qualities- ari shadvarga and the trigunatmika svabhava, This process of discard of the sheathes that envelope the soul, purification process, will enable the jiva to realize its pure and pristine existence!

 Hence, is it not wise to revert to the pure state by an inward journey? Stop all indulgences in the worldly existence, withdraw the senses and mind from material world, Start looking inward, begin working within taking recourse to contemplation, meditation. It is essential to discard all the acquired aspects, become pure- kayena, vachena, manasena, indriyana buddhyatmika svabhava parishuddha and shine in the glory of the Lord?