That Thou Art- Explanation

v That  Thou Art- Explanation(241-249)

v  If  Shruti in  her  maxim ”That Thou Art”, repeatedly establishes  the  identity of Brahman and Jeeva, indicated  by  the term ‘That”(Tat)  and “Thou”(Twam) respectively, then  stripping these  terms of their relative associations, their implied … meanings  are to be  inculcated. For  they are of contradictory attributes…  like the sun and  the  glow-worm, the  king  and the   servant, the  ocean  and the  well, mount  Meru and the atom(241-42) Tat and  Twam  words are the famous maxims(Mahavakya )of the Vedas. There Is a Consciousness which is illumining   all our thoughts. That Consciousness in  us is the Consciousness every where is the  meaning  of the pregnant statement, Tat Twam  Asi .This Upanishadic declaration indicates  the  identity(Ekattwam)of  Atman  and  Brahman.

v  The difference between them is only created by   superimposition and is not real. The conditioning in the case of Ishwara is Maya, or Mahat, etc.--and the  conditionings in  the  case of jeeva are the five sheaths.(243) When   the mind and the  intellect are transcended, the jeeva merges into Ishwara. God is the Reality  functioning through the  total vasanas or Maya. Brahman, the Reality,, after taking the physical body, it moves from environment to environment   in  order to exhaust its most powerful vasanas. Any conscious act…physical, mental, or intellectual…creates vasanas. Vasanas create   the world, and   the  world around us creates vasanas. Brahman functioning  through   the  total vasanas is called  God(Ishwara),  and  functioning  through  individual vasanas  is  called the  jeeva. Hence, when  the  individual  vasanas  are  exhausted,  the  individual concept also ends,  and  the jeeva  is  no more. Thus the  oneness of the jeeva and Ishwara---  the  individual ego and the  God--  is  realised, which  is called God realisation.

v  These   two   are  superimpositions   of Ishwara   and  jeeva, but   when they  are completed  eliminated, there is  neither Ishwara nor jeeva. When   the  kingdom of the  king and the  shield of the   soldier are   taken  away,  there  can   neither  be king nor  a  soldier(244) One must  certainly eliminate these  two superimpositions by  means  of direct Realisation(245)

v  “Neither  this(gross) nor this(subtle)”…  like the snake seen   in   the  rope and  like  dreams, are not  real, being  products  of the  imagination. By  a  perfect   elimination  of the  objective  world by  reasoning, one must   realise the  oneness  underlying  the jeeva and the Ishwara.(246) What  is  delusorily  projected cannot be  an  actual  fact.  A  spiritual  seeker(Sadhu)having  eliminated   the world   within  and   without by  rational thinking(Yukti)  will  realise  that “I, who experienced the  objects, motions  and  thoughts   through the  body, mind and  intellect, am  the One, the Substratum, the  pure consciousness”

v  Therefore,  the  two terms (Ishvara and Jeeva) should be carefully considered through  their indicative meanings   in  order   to establish their absolute identity. Neither ”the method of total rejection”,   nor “ the methods  of complete retention”  will suffice. One must reason by a   combined process of both (247).

• Men  of  wisdom should give up contradictory elements on  both  sides and   recognise the  identity  of  Ishvara and jeeva, carefully noting  that  the  essence  of both  is  Knowledge Absolute.  In  such   wise, hundreds of scriptures  declare the  oneness and  identity  of Brahman and  the jeeva.(248-249) Wise men having  understood the One Essence both  in man  and  the God say   that  the  essential  core  in God is the essential  core  in  man.
• Vedprakash