V Subrahmanian, Thursday, July 30, 2015 9:12 am

Atman, verily Brahman, is Ever Established

In the Brahmas?tra bh??ya for the very first sutra, Shankara says:

?????????????????? ???????????????????????? ? ????? ???????????????? ?????????, ? ‘????????’ ??? ? ??? ?? ??????????????????????? ??????, ????? ???? ‘????????’ ??? ????????? ? ????? ? ?????? ?
Brahman is well known since It is the Self of all. Everyone experiences oneself to be existing and no one thinks ‘I do not exist’.  If the existence of oneself is not well known everyone would experience that one is  non-existent, ‘I am not’.  (This) Atman is Brahman.
Shankara bases this on the strength of the Taittiriya upanishad definition of Brahman as ‘Satyam (Existence), Jnanam (Consciousness), Anantam (Infinite) Brahma’.  The word Satyam is the one that is especially important in the above words of Shankara.
Quite interestingly, in the Srimadbh?gavatam, in the sequence where Prahlada instructs his fellow-pupils, the very same point covered above is seen: 7.6.19na hy acyutam? pr?n?ayato bahv?y?so ‘sur?tmaj?h?
?tmatv?t sarvabh?t?n?m? siddhatv?d iha sarvatah?

na — not; hi — indeed; acyutam — the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead; pr?n?ayatah? — satisfying; bahu — much; ?y?sah? — endeavor; asura?tmaj?h? — O sons of demons; ?tmatv?t — because of being intimately related as the Supersoul; sarvabh?t?n?m — of all living entities; siddhatv?t — because of being established; iha — in this world; sarvatah? — in all directions, in all times and from all angles of vision.

?r?mad Bh?gavatam 7.6.20-23par?vares?u bh?tes?u brahm?nta-sth?var?dis?u

bhautikes?u vik?res?u bh?tes?v atha mahatsu ca
gun?es?u gun?as?mye ca gun?avyatikare tath?
eka eva paro hy ?tm? bhagav?n ??varo ‘vyayah?
pratyag?tmasvar?pen?a dr??yar?pen?a ca svayam
vy?pyavy?paka-nirde?yo hy anirde?yo ‘vikalpitah?
keval?nubhav?nanda-svar?pah? parame?varah?
m?yay?ntarhitai?varya ?yate gun?asargay?

paraavares?u — in exalted or hellish conditions of life; bh?tes?u — in the living beings; brahmaanta — ending with Lord Brahm?; sth?vara?dis?u — beginning with the nonmoving forms of life, the trees and plants; bhautikes?u — of the material elements; vik?res?u — in the transformations; bh?tes?u — in the five gross elements of material nature; atha — moreover; mahatsu — in the mahattattva, the total material energy; ca — also; gun?es?u — in the modes of material nature; gun?as?mye — in an equilibrium of material qualities; ca — and; gun?avyatikare — in the uneven manifestation of the modes of material nature; tath? — as well; ekah? — one; eva — only; parah? — transcendental; hi — indeed; ?tm? — the original source; bhagav?n — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ??varah? — the controller; avyayah? — without deteriorating; pratyak — inner; ?tmasvar?pen?a — by His original constitutional position as the Supersoul; dr??yar?pen?a — by His visible forms; ca — also; svayam — personally; vy?pya — pervaded; vy?paka — all-pervading; nirde?yah? — to be described; hi — certainly; anirde?yah? — not to be described (because of fine, subtle existence); avikalpitah? — without differentiation; kevala — only; anubhava?nandasvar?pah? — whose form is blissful and full of knowledge; parama??varah? — the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme ruler; m?yay? — by m?y?, the illusory energy; antarhita — covered; ai?varyah? — whose unlimited opulence; ?yate — is mistaken as; gun?asargay? — the interaction of the material modes of nature.

This particular expression in the above verse is also completely reflected in the Sh?nkaran bhashyas:

// pratyag?tmasvar?pen?a  dr??yar?pen?a ca svayam…//

That One Supreme Being alone is available as the Atman of all and everything that is experienced as d??ya, the seen.  Therefore, the d?k and the d??ya  are both the Self alone, implying the sarvam khalvidam brahma theme: (This) Atman is Brahman.// found in the above cited BSB.

This word of the bhagavatam cited above //siddhatv?d // too is significantly present in the Taittiriya bh??ya 1.11.4

????????????????????? [Those who have the realization of the ever-established Atman.]

The following Brahma sutra bhashya sentences too are about the ‘siddha vastu’ that the Self, that is Brahman is:

BSB 1.1.2:

?????? ?????????????????????? ??????????? ????????, ???????????????? ??????????????????? ??????????????

Shruti, etc. and anubhava, etc. are pran??a here, as the context demands.  This is because the quest for knowledge culminates in one’s experience of the ever existing Brahman, which alone is the subject matter of that knowledge/experience.

BSB  3.4.52:

????? ??????? ??????????????????? ??????? ???????? ??????????????? ?

That (liberation) indeed is incapable of being produced since It is of the nature of being Ever Established.

Om Tat Sat

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