Most of the Upanishads teach us the fundamental principles of Creation and the 'Reality of our Existence'. In that sense of the scriptural statements, "we (the humans) are not what we appear to be! We are more than what we seem to be! In fact, we do not exist at all in this sense of 'Reality of Existence'. Many examples are given to prove this point. For example, we all exist in three states viz, jagrata (awake), svapna (dream), and sushupti (deep sleep). Since these are ever changing from morning till late night everyday these are not our real state of existence. We can rise above these three and reach the transcendental meditative state and absolute state of samadhi, too. Those who practice yoga can easily stay in samadhi state at their will! Thus, it is clear that we are ever-changing- from childhood to old age in body (physically) and mind, as also, we go on changing from our state of social and economic status in life. Nothing can be said for certain, at any point of time, about the changing status. Hence, the learned sages tried to impart the doctrines and help the disciples to know who exactly are they in real life! But, it is definitely not easy for us, the mortals, to understand and live as per the doctrines. We cannot understand what the illusory world is despite an umpteen examples given to us! We are told that the basic understanding about our existence is that of 'ignorance'. The entire life is one of birth due to ignorance and living in ignorance and die in ignorance to take birth again and repeat till knowledge dawns on us as to the 'truth'. The 'truth' is very simple. We are not what we seem to be, what we appear to be. We are different! We are the manifest aspect of the Absolute Abstract state of param padam called 'brahmn'. This is similar to Oxygen and Hydrogen that freely exist in air (nature) in vapor form and turn into solid state (of crystal ice, or liquid state (of water) under a particular condition of temperature and pressure. The question also arises asto what exactly is its eternal unchanging state? The same is the question as to the nature of a jiva that is embodied in different forms due to karma.
The Learned Sage Aruni Uddalaka taught his disciple Shvetaketu the doctrine of "tat tvam asi" (Thou Art That). But this simple statement is beyond our understanding or comprehension! The Vedic statement is tat brahma, tad Vishnu. tat sat param padam! The term 'tat' is something that connotes the supreme Absolute Abstract that does not come within our normal understanding. In fact, the term 'tat' (tyat) is 'brahmn'. It is a sound (svar) that creates, sustains, dissolves, and finally merges everything within Itself! This abstract concept cannot be either understood by us! The scriptures speak a lot about this. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Vedic doctrine is "so'ham asmi". This statement clearly states the doctrine of 'Atman', the 'Self'. In other words, it says, I am not the body, the mind, the intellect, nor am the ego. All these are the adjuncts of the body akin to the organs! There is something else that makes me call myself 'I! What is that? Is it the imperceptible notion of the Self, the Atman, the brahmn? Yes, it is!
Now, the question before us is simply, "Whether what we perceive (as the sensuous world, the world that comes within the grasp of our senses) is real, at all?" The answer is an emphatic 'NO'; what all we see, hear, touch, feel or experience is that of the senses of touch, sight, sound, etc. There are the deaf, dumb, blind, etc. who cannot experience the sensuous world! This does not mean that they are completely insensitive and to tally deprived of worldly existence. They possess sixth sense and, in fact, better equipped to experience than us! But all these come to naught when we explore the deeper aspects of our existence. In the strict sense of the term, we do not really exist at all! What all exists is something that is mere reflection of 'That' (tyat), brahmn. This is like a hundred full moons reflected in a hundred water bodies.
What is mere illusion say, like a mirage in a hot sandy desert, or mere waves of a rough sea, or just what we perceive as a snake on seeing a rope in the dark, or mistake for a person standing when we see a milestone. This is something like the previous impression in our mind and its recurrence as memory! We do not bother to realize that we are the same children that used to crawl on all the four in our infancy! Our memory is too short! It seems strange today if we just remember how, as kids, we used to climb the trees and jump about, and even had our limbs broken!
Thus, there is something that runs through our lives as memory, experiences, feelings, etc. At the basis of all these lies abominable ignorance! This ignorance goes only when a tormented jiva seeks the guidance of a learned guide to get rid of this eternal bondage. However, it is well laid down in the scriptures that "It is the prerogative of the Divine Force/Power to grant renunciation and freedom from bondage. The jiva must be lucky enough to get the blessings and has to work incessantly to attract the divine grace by constant adoration and prayer to the devi devata! The good work done in the past as well as the blessings of the elders also count in this! Hence, the jiva has to realize its true nature and get rid of the ignorance,
Now, if we erase all these memories, experience, feelings and look at ourselves as a body made up of parts, we realize some strange mystic power playing behind all these creations. It is a divine or mystic power that creates a microscopic entity such as an ion, a Majorana fermionic cellular bio-technical-transformation, giving rise to biological entity called life, that too with the help of the basic five elements! Nothing remains if we remove these five basic elements from the material structure! May be, what remains is the spiritual entity, that is beyond the purview of science or rational explanation. In all, what we can say about this illusory world is that it is a mystery that something has been created out of nothing as if it is a magic! So also, we as humans who are made up of parts. Nothing remains if the parts are removed. Anything made of parts, for that matter, reverts to 'nothing' when the parts are removed!
Thus, the scriptures emphatically lay down the fundamental principle of Atman- Brahman combine! It is the 'brahmn' that manifests as 'Atman' that takes numrous forms and perform functions. What all we see is the Atman that is invisible, a driving force in this universe. The Atman only takes the forms as the Vedic doctrine says, Eko'ham bahusyam!
In this sense of the term, what all we see here is 'brahmn' only! It is 'brahmn; that appears as the material sensuous perceptible world, where there is actually 'none whatsoever'!!
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