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July 2007 
Wisdom of the Upanishads:Self and the Inherent Self-Consciousness
Posted on May 8th, 2006
by 
Kalyan
Kalyan
The Upanishads treat the great fundamental truths in the most abstract, philosophic and metaphysical sense to render the loftiest of thoughts into the mind of man. The central truth of the Upanishads is the identity in nature of the Universal Self and the Particular Self, declared in the statement: Tat tvam asi, That thou art.
The Upanishads maintain the idea that there is only one consciousness and that is God Consciousness. It declares that there is nothing else but Brahman. He is all and the all is in him. It is not He and a Universe but He as the Universe.
This Brahman is the absolute beginning, the absolute end and the absolute continent of things. The inherent self-consciousness in Brahman, inseparable from its being, is throwing itself out as a force of movement of consciousness which is creative of forces, forms and worlds. The Brahman is not limited, bound or compelled by its potentiality - it is free; and it indulges its powers of movement and formation for only one reason - for delight!!
However, to our ordinary view of self and things which awakes and moves only upon surfaces. This inherent Self-Delight remains hidden, profound, sub-conscious.
There is, therefore, only one existence - that of the Self; and there is only one sure proof - that of the Self. The proof is within, and so we need to turn our gaze within. Man cannot wander outside the Self, for the Self is everywhere. He cannot lose the Self, for the Self is within him.
If through our imagination we can expand our consciousness to embrace the whole of the visible universe, we will understand that such universes arise out of an immeasurable fullness as waves out of an ocean; and disappear as well just as waves smooth down again into the ocean. Thus, all that is imaginable, everything which can be, resides in that immeasurable All; there is nothing else. This All is absolute due to the simple reason that there is nothing else with which THAT can be in relation.
Thus do the Upanishads strive to render an intellectual exposition of THAT as much as words can give. Nothing else may words do!!
The Upanishads maintain the idea that there is only one consciousness and that is God Consciousness. It declares that there is nothing else but Brahman. He is all and the all is in him. It is not He and a Universe but He as the Universe.
This Brahman is the absolute beginning, the absolute end and the absolute continent of things. The inherent self-consciousness in Brahman, inseparable from its being, is throwing itself out as a force of movement of consciousness which is creative of forces, forms and worlds. The Brahman is not limited, bound or compelled by its potentiality - it is free; and it indulges its powers of movement and formation for only one reason - for delight!!
However, to our ordinary view of self and things which awakes and moves only upon surfaces. This inherent Self-Delight remains hidden, profound, sub-conscious.
There is, therefore, only one existence - that of the Self; and there is only one sure proof - that of the Self. The proof is within, and so we need to turn our gaze within. Man cannot wander outside the Self, for the Self is everywhere. He cannot lose the Self, for the Self is within him.
If through our imagination we can expand our consciousness to embrace the whole of the visible universe, we will understand that such universes arise out of an immeasurable fullness as waves out of an ocean; and disappear as well just as waves smooth down again into the ocean. Thus, all that is imaginable, everything which can be, resides in that immeasurable All; there is nothing else. This All is absolute due to the simple reason that there is nothing else with which THAT can be in relation.
Thus do the Upanishads strive to render an intellectual exposition of THAT as much as words can give. Nothing else may words do!!
Access: PublicTagged with: that, absolute, brahman, fundamental truths, universal self, self-consciousness, self-delight, intellectual exposition
These are truly wise and wondrous words. Thank you so much for sharing! Coincidentally, about a couple of hours before reading this post from you, I was telling a friend how important the Upanishads are.
What a wonderful group the Upanishads are!
“The World is Illusory
Brahman Alone is Real
Brahman is te World”
~Ramana Maharshi
Thanks for the insightful post, Kaylan!
Here is one more Gem:
The Mandukya Upanishad says:
“The Unseen with whom there can be no pragmatic relations; unseizable, featureless, unthinkable, undesignable by name, whose substance is the certitude of One Self, in whom world-existence is stilled, who is all peace and bliss - that is the Self, that is what must be known.”
The knowledge gained of in this temporal existence is that of phenomena rather than reality of things or of the foundation of existence. Existence is still an enigma and there is no clue to the origin of the determinations that take place in it. There is no explanation of the strange process by which things are determined or of the powers, qualities and properties, no revelation of their true nature, origin and insignificance.
The Energy revealed by science is not known by itself but by its works. The emergence of this world of organized Matter, the emergence of Life and the emergence of consciousness are all still unexplained activities of evolutionary Nature. We can at best observe, follow, serve, take advantage, and utilize many of them, but none of them are fundamentally explicable.