All posts by Manish Verma

IITian ~ Consultant & Educator Manish Sir

One Absolute Reality – Many Roles

There is only one absolute reality – the impersonal consciousness – playing many roles.

Bhagavad Gita 13.22

[Bhagavad Gita 13.22]

Implied Meaning: The Self located in this body is also called the Witness/Knower. It is also the Approver/Intellect, the Provider, the Enjoyer/Experiencer, the great Lord and the Supreme Self.

Comment: While the absolute reality is playing many primary roles, it is also playing many secondary roles via primary roles. For instance, while experiencer is a role played by absolute reality, this role also plays several other roles which eventually are the secondary roles played by the absolute reality only. Sometimes the experiencer becomes father, sometimes son, sometimes boss, sometimes husband and so on. Often, it is attachment to the role that causes suffering to the experiencer. If a particular role played by the experiencer is causing mental suffering then the experiencer should try to switch over to  being just a detached witness.

Ornament is Gold but Gold is not the Ornament

From the perspective of the hand, fingers are part of the hand but hand is not the fingers.

From the perspective of the body, hands are part of the body but hands are not the body.

When you close your eyes, you are able to imagine a rose if you wish. This means that the rose is in your consciousness but the consciousness is not the rose.

As this view is expanded and Self Inquiry is done, finally there is a realisation that everything is in impersonal consciousness, but impersonal consciousness is not caught in any particular thing.

In Bhagavad Gita 9.4, Krishn says as impersonal consciousness,

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Implied Meaning: All this world is pervaded by me in my unmanifest form. All beings exist in me, but I do not dwell in them.