The young Rama is asking questions about how ideation arises in the purity of Atma. The sage replies citing one of the great mahakvakyas (utterance) and whether a doer, a spiritual aspirant has made themselves worthy of the great utterance. Names and forms, ideations or modifications of consciousness arise within the primeval ideation of Atma. The Atma is witness of all these objects with names and attributes. These have naught to do with the True Self.
Glossary:
mahā-vākya: San. n. a statement, divine axiom, a profound spiritual truth
aham brahamasmi: I am Brahman ((Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 of the Yajur Veda) (One of the great mahavakyas, great utterances)
asat unreal, not truth (opposite of sat, truth)
atmaswaroop: cf. atmaswarupa; Consciousness, the Self, original nature, our true essential nature. (embodiment, form of the Atma)
ahamkara (aham+kara) San. m. ‘I-maker’ – egoism, the individuating principle which is the basis of this world of duality, the sense of personal self; pride. The ego is the identification with a name and form and in the case of the ‘bound’ entity, ‘enveloped by the consciousness of doership’. Only within the illusion of separateness can the question of bondage arise – without identification with the ego, there is no individual to take responsibility for actions, therefore no bondage and no liberation.
Question 256: Sir, you said Atma is pure and infinite. How does the fault like ideation arise in it? Kindly remove my doubts.
Answer: Ramji, he who is subject to love and hate, and to pains and pleasures of the senses, is not fit for the supreme words (mahavakya). He who has the understanding of the Universal Brahman but is still engaged in gratifications, attains a low state (birth), because he has no faith in the supreme words (I am Brahman) and his mind is not pure. He who is a great doer, great consumer and great renunciant is fit for the supreme words. Having the faith that “I am Brahman” (aham Brahmasmi) he attains to the Atmic state. Such a person attains the True Self easily. Ramji, as a result of his practices, he who achieves realisation even for a moment, does not take a rebirth; such a person feels no distinctions of the real and the unreal. The distinctions of real and unreal or of purity and impurity are cognised because of the ideation.
Ramji, there is no distinction between the sun in a dream and that in the waking state. The sun in a dream gives light during the dream and that in the waking state gives light during waking state. It is the same sun in both the states, and the light in both the cases is also alike. Yet the sun in the dream is considered unreal (asat) during the waking state and the sun in the waking state is considered non-existent (asat) during the dream state. The difference is of thinking only and that happens due to ideation; in the context of the true state, there is no distinction between the two. Likewise, real and unreal are alike in the context of the swaroop; the multitude of objects with names and forms that you are seeing have not been created at all. All these are ideational, like the sun in a dream and its light.
Ramji, words and meanings, or names and attributes are ideations or modifications arising within the primeval ideation (ideation in Atma), and Atma itself is the witness of these objects with names and attributes. But an ignorant person cognising himself as a body, identifies himself with names and attributes. When the ideation of the person disappears and he realises himself as Atma, then all names and attributes are cognised in the Self or in Atma. The universe exists as long as there is ignorance of one’s own form of the Atma, and ignorance lasts as long as there is ego (ahamkara). When ego becomes extinct, then Atma only is sustained — pure and free from knowledge and ignorance.
Ramji, how can a fault like ideation be in Atma which is the state of pure consciousness only, and which exists by itself only?
Sthree stands for the feminine, though not only in the physical sense. The word “Sthree” can be divided into three sounds; “Sth,” “r” and “ee.” “Sth” stands for satwic, “r” stands for rajasic and “ee” stands for tamasic. Every person or being that is born into the world is feminine, and has these three qualities (satwic, rajasic and tamasic). Man should have the quality of satwa comprising Divine, sacred feelings and piousness, so that he may merge in the Divine. Tamasic does not stand for dullness, but for obedience, humility, morality and integrity. Rajasic does not stand for emotion, anger, arrogance, or pomp, but for forbearance, tolerance and charity.
Who is manava the human? Man is the one with sacred feelings at the centre. The human quality is one with perfect harmony of sacred thoughts, words and actions. That is why it is said that the proper study of mankind is man. The physical world of nature has purity and man can learn from the purity in nature. Spirituality does not consist only of penance, rituals, meditation, etc. These aspects are only practiced to make the heart pure and to enable one to be away from the transient world. True spirituality is not only thinking of God but also being away from all unsacred actions. Spirituality embodies the eternal Truth.
Nature is the best teacher. Through the study of nature one can learn what is transient and what is permanent. That which is sacred in nature is Divinity. Whatever is not in the Divine cannot be experienced in nature. You say that you are not seeing God or experiencing God. What foolishness! You are God. In nature everything is the Divine form. Just as in ornaments you find that gold is one and the same, similarly in nature everything is Divine.
Every human being has the three feminine attributes, satwic, rajasic and tamasic. From the worldly, physical point of view, everyone is both masculine and feminine. Birth and death, hunger and thirst are common to all. Pleasure and pain are common to both. The principle of unity in both men and women is one. Equality is Divinity. Man says that females are weak due to their feminine qualities. It is wrong to say that women are weak, dependant, and are only for working in the kitchen. Every human being is weak. The word for weak is “abala. ” There is only one male who is without weakness and He is God. The feminine aspect of God is “prakriti” (nature) and it consist of form made up of matter. Divinity is energy. It is impossible to have prakriti without Divinity as both are interdependent. We should not, therefore, think that anything is evil because everything is Divine and full of sanctity. We cannot change the creation, we must change our outlook. Sadhana means making one’s vision sacred. The Bhagavad Gita states that a woman has higher powers than a man and a woman also has many titles. In ancient Bharat (India), women represented the higher, nobler qualities. In the home, the woman has been given the title Grihalakshmi (goddess of the home) as the prestige of the family depended entirely upon the standards set by the woman. The ancient Bharatiyas had said to watch the wife because on her depends the reputation of the family. Women provide strength to the family and the society.
Recognizing that Divinity is the basis of all things, everyone should reflect on his indwelling Divinity and expand his or her mind. The heart should be full of sacred Love, so that all things would be full of Love. “Hrudaya ” is the word for heart. The word when split into “hru” and “daya,” means a heart with compassion. Today, however, compassion is absent and the heart is full of wicked thoughts, etc. Purify the heart by thinkng of God.
“Abala” with reference to women does not mean that they are weak. For example, in ancient times the students were very much afraid of the school master, but today the reverse is true. Today the teachers are very much afraid of the students. When this teacher (of ancient times) returned from his school, he was very much afraid of his wife. So how can men call women weak? Take the example of a military leader. He has many, many soldiers (100,000+) at his command, but he also is afraid of his wife. Thus all (both men and women) are weak. Weakness is not based on or determined by the physical body alone. Both men and women are children of immortality. Kodaikanal, April 9, 1996
Explanation:
This deep field mosaicked image presents a stunning view of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 recorded by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam.
Also dubbed Pandora’s Cluster, Abell 2744 itself appears to be a ponderous merger of three different massive galaxy clusters.
It lies some 3.5 billion light-years away, toward the constellation Sculptor.
Dominated by dark matter, the mega-cluster warps and distorts the fabric of space-time, gravitationally lensing even more distant objects.
Redder than the Pandora cluster galaxies many of the lensed sources are very distant galaxies in the early Universe, their lensed images stretched and distorted into arcs.
Of course distinctive diffraction spikes mark foreground Milky Way stars.
At the Pandora Cluster’s estimated distance this cosmic box spans about 6 million light-years.
But don’t panic.
You can explore the tantalizing region in a 2 minute video tour.
Hamsa Gayatri
Om Hamsaaya Vidmahe
Paramahamsaya Dheemahi
Tanno Hamsa Prachodayat
“May we realise Hamsa that is our own Self as the Swan. Let us meditate on that Paramahamsa, the Supreme Self. May Hamsa illumine us.”