Often there is misunderstanding that there is separate Soul/Atman in every body.
Bhagavad Gita, 13.33
The above implies that just like there is only one Sun, there is only one Soul for all the bodies. There is no separate Soul/Self per body.
I Am Awareness – Sudden Realisation
My mind has been contemplating on the teachings of Vedanta, Ramana Maharshi and others and has been going through Self inquiry. A blog post about Self inquiry negating the panchakoshas can be seen here. Ramana Maharshi teaches about doing Self inquiry on, “Who Am I” which also was done.
While contemplating, many thoughts came to my mind, like:
When I say, I am going, here I = body.
When I say, I am eating, here I = body.
When I say, I am exercising, here I = body.
When I say, I am happy, here I = mind.
When I say, I am sad, here I = mind.
When I say, I am solving puzzle, here I = intellect.
When I say, I am in trans, here I = bliss.
So, am I the body or the mind or the intellect or the bliss? Who Am I really? Which is the real me? This means that I am something else that identifies itself with body sometimes, with mind sometimes, with intellect sometimes etc. Intellectually, the answer was known but realisation had not taken place. Suddenly, a realisation came in a flash while reading an article related to Vedanta that I am awareness expressing in different ways. When awareness identifies with body, “I” becomes body. When awareness identifies with mind, “I” becomes mind.
Self Inquiry for Self Realisation
The following procedure can be used for Self inquiry:
As explained earlier there are 5 shells and Atman is beyond these shells. The innermost shell is Annamayakosha (body), then there is Pranamayakosha (breath/energy), the next one is Manomayakosha (mind), the penultimate one is Vijnanmayakosha (intellect) and the outermost one is Anandamayakosha (bliss). Atman (Self) is beyond Anandamayakosha. Let us now negate each one of these by Self inquiry.
Negation of Annamayakosha (body), Manomayakosha (mind) and Vijnanmayakosha (intellect) can be done by following the logic mentioned here which is based on the principle that if you are the witness to something then you cannot be that thing.
Negation of Pranamayakosha (breath/energy): Air is inhaled from the atmosphere and exhaled back into the atmosphere. Something that is borrowed from somewhere and given back to it after its use cannot be me. Morever, there is no intellect associated with breath/energy which I have and hence I cannot be Pranamayakosha.
Negation of Anandamayakosha (bliss): Sometimes I feel bliss after getting up in the morning after deep sleep. This also happens after listening to soul stirring music. Anandamayakosha is said to contain the reflection of the Self. This means that I reach the reflected Self when I experience bliss. Since I am the experiencer/knower of the bliss and every other kosha, I am beyond all of them and hence I am Atman/Self.
Self/Atman Inside Body Misconception
Generally, we identify ourselves with body-mind and the Atman/Self is not known to us. Also, for spiritual quest we are advised to look within. These considerations lead us to believe that if Atman is there it is something very small inside the body. If we look at Panchakoshas concept explained in Vedanta this misunderstanding can be corrected. There are 5 shells and Atman is beyond these shells. The innermost shell is Annamayakosha (body), then there is Pranamayakosha (breath/energy), the next one is Manomayakosha (mind), the penultimate one is Vijnanmayakosha (intellect) and the outermost one is Anandamayakosha (bliss). Atman is beyond Anandamayakosha.
Mind is due to Brain Problem
Mind does not appear to exist during deep sleep, in coma, in certain brain deceases*/injuries, under general anesthesia etc. So, one can say that if brain does not work (or works partially), mind does not exist (or does not behave normally) and hence mind is entirely due to brain. However, if we assume that entire mind is due to brain it is not possible to explain a) near-death experiences that some people have b) out of body experiences that some people have and c) research findings on reincarnation by Dr. Ian Stevenson. These experiences/findings point towards the phenomenon of mind (or faculty of mind – whatever you like to call it like soul etc.) getting detached from the body.
If we assume for a moment that the mind is separate from the body let us see how we can explain why mind does not appear to exist during deep sleep, in coma, in certain brain diseases*/injuries, under general anesthesia etc. Mind interprets information sent by the brain. If brain is inactive/damaged/dead, this information is not sent properly (or not sent at all) to the mind for processing which makes it look as if mind is not working properly or is not functioning at all. For analogy sake consider a TV (mind) connected to a cable (brain/body) and to a power supply. If there is no signal sent by the cable, the TV does not work. This does not mean that the TV is not in working condition. This explains how the dependence of mind on brain is possible even if mind does not exist due to brain.
Spiritually speaking, consciousness is big container in which there is mind inside of which there is body and brain is part of the body. Mind is the interface between the consciousness and the body. Mind receives lot of information from the body/brain and tunes in to specific information and projects it on the screen of consciousness.
*In certain brain diseases the person does not behave normally and one says that mind is not normal.
Awareness – An Analogy
Let us say that in a home with 24×7 electricity, there are many bulbs. When current flows through a particular operational bulb by switching it on it glows. When the switch is off it obviously does not glow. Also, when the bulb is not operational even if there is electricity it does not glow. Also, what happens with one bulb is not related to another bulb as it is driven by another switch. Here is the analogy:
| Bulb | = | A Person |
| Bulb with switch off | = | Person in unconscious state |
| Bulb with switch on | = | Person not in unconscious state |
| Bulb not operational | = | Death of the body of the person |
| Light from the bulb | = | Sensation of sound, light, emotions etc. experienced by a person |
| Current | = | Awareness |
From the above analogy it can be seen that just as the light from the bulb is possible due to current, or in other words current is expressing itself in the form of light, the experience (via senses, thoughts etc.) of the person is possible due to awareness or awareness is expressing itself in the form of experience. If the bulb is not giving light it does not mean that the electricity does not exist, it only means that either the bulb is switched off or is not operational. Likewise, if a person has no experience (via senses, thoughts etc.), it does not mean that awareness does not exist, it means that either the person is unconscious or the body is dead.
I = Awareness: Simple Proof
One morning Anand had quarrel with his wife. Later while driving car to the office, he had a brush up with another car which led into a futile argument. He reached his office late and asked his secretary about some work. When she said that she could not complete it in time, he (I = ego) asked her to resign within a week.
After reaching home while playing with his young kid he thought that he (I = ego) was wrong in taking the decision hurriedly of firing the secretary and that he (I = intellect) would make up for it tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Next day after reaching his office he called his secretary and first asked about the same work to begin the conversation feeling quite sure that it would have been over by yesterday noon. She said that it would take more time to complete it. Anand thought that this work should have been over by yesterday comfortably and till now it is not done. He decided not to do what he thought earlier about making up with her. In the afternoon a colleague of Anand told him about some personal problem his secretary was facing. After hearing this he (I = compassion) took back the decision of firing the secretary.
Anand is just one, there cannot be many permanent Anands as I = ego or I = intellect or I = compassion etc. In this episode the only thing that remained permanent/constant was Anand as I = awareness. It was ego that took place in awareness, it was intelligence that took place in awareness and it was compassion that took place in awareness. Everything happened on the screen of awareness. The screen did not change but what was played on the screen was changed. This means that Anand is awareness and so are we.