The young Rama asks Sage Vasishtha about bondage and liberation. He learns there are three aspects or forms of a person. There is pure consciousness, ignorance of Atma and the gross form.
Glossary:
Atma-tattva: reality of the Spirit; the primordial element; the consciousness that is the primeval element of existence;
Atma-tattva: that is indestructible, without a beginning and an end, all-pervasive and always pure;
chinmatra: of the nature of pure consciousness or undifferentiated existence
chidakasha: The causal aspect of the universe. The akash or space of Chit; the Absolute Consciousness, the all pervading Spirit;
chidananda-Brahmaswaroop: pure consciousness.
jiva: an individual, person, spark of the Divine Atma
jivatma: individual soul embodied as a person. Soul with a gross body.
jiva-bhava disposition of being a jiva or individual finite consciousness
Question 266: Sir, what are bondage and liberation?
Answer: Ramji, to feel joy in the pleasant aspects or grief in the unpleasant aspects arising because of the association between the senses and the objects or between the enjoyer and the objects of enjoyment, is bondage. He who does not cognise the objects and the functions of the senses within the self, or who always maintains even cognition, and feels neither joy nor sorrow in pleasant and unpleasant objects, and who realising himself as Atma—the witness—partakes of the objects without a desire, is ever liberated.
Ramji, you should understand properly what the objects and the senses are. Association with the senses is bondage and freedom from the senses is liberation. It is the mind that feels joy and sorrow. Relinquish that mind. When the mind becomes extinct, then sufferings, too, vanish with that. When you are in an even state, both in the case of arousal and non-arousal of the mind, then only you will act as a liberated being. Live in the world without desire. Do what comes to you naturally according to destiny and be stable in your true self.
Ramji, the mind is destroyed with the mind only and with nothing else. When you fix your mind in the true self, then it on its own destroys its ideation. When the mind becomes extinct, all names and forms vanish and the reality of the Atma state only is sustained. It is due to the mind that the formless Atma is cognised as the multiplicity of forms. Therefore, be ever established in the Pure Consciousness and cognise the world, too, as the Chinmatra Atma (pure consciousness). When you firmly intereact like this, your chitta becomes quiescent (achitta). When you attain quiescence, then your faith in the world ceases and Atma-tattva only is experienced.
Ramji, there are three aspects or forms of a person. One is pure consciousness (Chidananda Brahmswaroop) that illumines everything. The other is the latent or subtle form that comes into being due to the ignorance of Atma. In that form, though a person cognises himself as distinct from Brahman, yet total oblivion of Brahman is not there because he retains the momory of Atma. When there is forgetfulness of Atma, the third form — the gross body — comes into being. In that state, the jivatma cognises himself as a body of five elements. It acquires the name of jiva due to its ignorance of Atma, and it is always dependent and unhappy.
Ramji, you should renounce the gross body of five elements and also the ideational subtle body, and be established in your primordial form of Brahman. On reflection and contemplation, the gross and the subtle bodies are not sustained. Be established in the third form—the embodiment of the divine atma (Atmaswaroop)—that is real.
Many do not know the meaning of the statement, “Deho Devalayam”. “The Body is the Temple”. For what reason did the temple arise? For the Lord worshipped within. If there is no such Lord, it cannot be called temple. But, the actions of man are now all against this plain fact. Now all worship is being done to the temple, forgetting that the temple is not God. The temple is to be preserved and cleaned and decorated for the sake of God therein, it should be made a good means of realising Him. That is all. Similarly, the body is the temple of the Lord, the Atmaswarupa. Forgetting the need for faith in the Atma, for the bliss derived from the Atma, for the worship of the Atma, for dedication to the Atma, people are now immersed in faith in the body, bliss of the body, decoration of the body and dedication to the body. In spite of everything, the body is evanescent; but through the temple, the Lord can be seen. Through the body, the Atma who is within can be realised. That is the main task of man; conscious of this, try always to keep watch over the body and protect it. Do not neglect the Lord within; do not hold fast to the unreal, temporary, outer building. Of course, you should not ruin the temple, either; its maintenance is also essential. Only, you should never forget that what gives value and purpose to it, is the Atma within.
Similarly, with Lokasanthi and Atmasanthi, world peace and individual peace. The temple is Lokasanthi; the Lord within is Atmasanthi. World peace is a means to subserve the Santhi of the individual. The World is the Lord’s Mansion. Know it as such. He is moving about in that mansion, in its many rooms. God’s worship can be done well only if the temple is clean and pure. So, engage yourselves in winning the two, Santhi for the world and Santhi for yourselves. Do not ignore the Lord whose mansion is the world. Without Him, it is a tomb, not a temple, Savam not Sivam. If you always remember Him, that is Joy and Victory, that is Sarvamangala. Prashanthi Vahini 29
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.”