In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the excerpt from the “Brihadaranyaka Upanishad”, on how Sage Yagnyavalkya took to the “Sanyasa-Ashrama” by totally renouncing himself for the welfare of the world. As he left his home, he had to make his wife understand that the only way to attain “Moksha” is to surrender to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet. Sage Yagnyavalkya beautifully emphasized upon the important point that there is going to be nobody in this world who can help us in attaining “Moksha”, other than ourselves taking the resolve and initiative forward. This is exactly what Sage Adishankara too emphasizes in his famous song “Bhaja Govindam”. He clearly mentions that there is nothing else in this world apart from chanting the divine name of Bhagawan Govinda (Vishnu) that can take us to “Moksha”.
Thus, the underlying point here is that, if we’re able to view the “Atman” separately from the “Deham”, we can easily attain this highest level of spiritual maturity. The problem with all of us is that we tend to associate the “Atman” together with the “Deham”, and this is where we lose track. We start feeling that all problems that we face in life are affecting us in some way or the other. In fact, all the problems that we face every day are only associated with the “Deham” and not the “Atman”. Our “Atman” is devoid of all worldly problems and is a pure entity by nature. The Deham, which is destroyable by nature, is constantly subjected to pains, problems, trials and tribulations. As we progress spiritually, we should understand this difference clearly that nothing is going to affect the “Atman”, and we should make sure that we give more emphasis on the “Atman” and lesser on the “Deham”. I’m of course not saying that we should stop eating and sleeping from tomorrow onwards. We should definitely eat properly, give sufficient rest for our physical body and keep our physical health condition intact. In fact, the “Deham” is like a vehicle, which should be used to attain Bhagawan and we should ensure that it is maintained properly. However, the problem comes only when we start giving too much importance to the “Deham”, by completely forgetting the “Atman”.
Thus, we should atleast begin by giving equal importance to the “Atman” and the “Deham”, if not more or less. Slowly as we advance spiritually, we can improve our attention towards our “Atman” more than towards our “Deham”. However, there should be some point from where we should start, isn’t it? So let us start this way and let us take incremental steps day after day. Thus, the point here is that if we’re able to see the clear difference between the “Atman” and the “Deham”, this is where we attain spiritual maturity and this phenomenon is often referred to as “Adhyaatma Dharma” in our Sanaatana Dharma literature. If we attain this state of “Adhyaatma Dharma”, there would be no fights between people, no revenge, no mental pressures, ego, etc. All these would cease to exist, because we would clearly understand that whatever abuses and insults that we might receive, are never going to affect our “Atman” in any way.
For instance, if we see someone as a “Hindu”, someone as a “Muslim”, or a “Christian”, etc. all these differences are those of the “Deham” and never of the “Atman”. As per our Sanaatana Dharma, all living beings are the same “Atman”, which are directly connected to Bhagawan. This is the greatest principle of our Sanaatana Dharma, which unfortunately no other religion in this world has. All these meaningless fights between people on the basis of religion, killing of people on the basis of various differences, etc. are because people do not understand this very concept that all living beings are the same “Atman”, no matter who we are and what we are.
So for today, let us understand the concept of “Adhyaatma Dharma” and let us appreciate the “oneness” amongst all of us as we move forward. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the continuation of Sage Bharata’s narratives! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 