The ATMAN'S PARADOX
The perceptions are always relative. Similarly, viewing the motionless Spirit of Life from and through the world of agitations, the Spirit Itself looks as though It moves,and yet, in Its real nature,It moves not.
This verse reinforces the fact covered in the last stanza that the Supreme Consciousness is 'all pervading.' It moves- yes, the matter, vibrant with the touch of life,flutters and trembles,sighs and sobs,moves and acts,accomplishes and enjoys. The 'ghost'shows signs with its wizardly hands and its horrid face grins at the deluded; but the 'post', which is the reality behind the 'ghost-vision' of the dusk,'That moves not.' The pure awareness of Consciousness,the Life-principle in all beings, in its all-pervading essential nature, neither moves nor acts. Established in Its own glory,It revels in Its own existence. The ocean,in relation to the waves, is surging, seething,heaving,roaring; but in its own true nature,the ocean is not the waves alone, and it is tranquil and peaceful,motionless and majestic in its own depth, calmness and serenity. So too,with life as such, the Atman, in its all-pervading nature,is motionless,and It neither acts nor works. The boat moves,but never the lake.
vedprakash
www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com
तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके।
Tadejati tannaijati tad dûre tadvantike,
तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्य बाह्यतः ॥5॥
Tadejati tannaijati tad dûre tadvantike,
तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्य बाह्यतः ॥5॥
tadan-tarasya sarvasya tadu sarva-syâsya bâhyata. (Isha 5).
"The Atman moves and It moves not; It is far and It is near;
It is within all this, and It is also outside all this".(Swami Chinmayananda)
The perceptions are always relative. Similarly, viewing the motionless Spirit of Life from and through the world of agitations, the Spirit Itself looks as though It moves,and yet, in Its real nature,It moves not.
This verse reinforces the fact covered in the last stanza that the Supreme Consciousness is 'all pervading.' It moves- yes, the matter, vibrant with the touch of life,flutters and trembles,sighs and sobs,moves and acts,accomplishes and enjoys. The 'ghost'shows signs with its wizardly hands and its horrid face grins at the deluded; but the 'post', which is the reality behind the 'ghost-vision' of the dusk,'That moves not.' The pure awareness of Consciousness,the Life-principle in all beings, in its all-pervading essential nature, neither moves nor acts. Established in Its own glory,It revels in Its own existence. The ocean,in relation to the waves, is surging, seething,heaving,roaring; but in its own true nature,the ocean is not the waves alone, and it is tranquil and peaceful,motionless and majestic in its own depth, calmness and serenity. So too,with life as such, the Atman, in its all-pervading nature,is motionless,and It neither acts nor works. The boat moves,but never the lake.
'It is distant and it is near' ----This alone can be definition of All-pervading. The Indian State is all -pervading, as far as the frontiers of this country define it. Similarly,the Pure Consciousness, the Supreme Reality, being All-pervading, It is at once near and the most distant. For the enlightened ones, the Self is the nearest, occupying the centre of their own individual personality. Nothing is, in fact,so near to us, as our own Self. But,to others the Reality is indeed very far from their realisation!!
In fact, the whole Ishavasya Upanisad is a loud message to the humanity at large in general, and to the true Hindu in particular, to desist from becoming merely self-centered, to the utter neglect of his life in the outer world, and his relationships with the comity of nations and happening around him.
The Self is not only to be realised in the centre of our own individual life, but is to be experienced as the same everywhere. Pure Consciousness is homogeneous and all-pervading and,as such, the Self cognised here is the same as the Self experienced as revelling there. Not only is the Atman the central core of the spirituo -physical personality in the seeker, but the same Consciousness is the very substratum for the entire perception of the universe. Thus, to consider this Self to be only within and live a life of pure introversion is a negation of Truth, which is condemned from the Hindu scriptural standpoint.
The Self is not only to be realised in the centre of our own individual life, but is to be experienced as the same everywhere. Pure Consciousness is homogeneous and all-pervading and,as such, the Self cognised here is the same as the Self experienced as revelling there. Not only is the Atman the central core of the spirituo -physical personality in the seeker, but the same Consciousness is the very substratum for the entire perception of the universe. Thus, to consider this Self to be only within and live a life of pure introversion is a negation of Truth, which is condemned from the Hindu scriptural standpoint.
vedprakash
www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com
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