________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
74
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Atman and Mokşa
1
he overcomes evil; free from the fetters of the heart, he becomes immortal." Thus it is an experience of oneness, which is found everywhere. It is an experience of non-duality. The spirit of these verses is that, it is only a discovery of our inmost Self that was lost under ignorance. The Self is falsely understood under the various kinds of Upadhis or adjuncts which are quite different from it. It manifests itself through the Upadhis, but in truth it is none of them. Paul Deussen makes it clear as "Each of us is this eternally free atman. We do not first become ätman, but we are it already, though unconscious of the fact.""
Yajnavalkya says "That Self is dearer than a son, is dearer than wealth, is dearer than all else, since this Self is nearest... One should reverence the Self alone as dear."3 Thus the nearest thing that an individual ever has, is his soul. The inner Self of the individual is that identical part of him, which remains the same in all the four states of him; it is that which is awake not only in the waking and dreamstate, but even in the state of deep sleep and the fourth one, where no consciousness of distinctions exists. All our activities pertain to the Self. Every activity of the individual is meant for the satisfaction of his Self. Nought happens except for the Self. No consciousness can work without reference to the Self. The Self is the reality for which the individual
For Private And Personal
1 Mundaka Up. 3.2.10.
2 Deussen Paul: The Philosophy of the Upanishads, p. 210. Brh. Up. 1.4.8.
