Throughout the Gita, Krishna drives home the dichotomy between the body and the self and the need to understand the self in proper perspective. The concept of Kshetra, the body, and of Kshetrajna, the knower of Kshetra, unravels the misconceptions regarding the self which is distinct from the body and establishes the difference between relative reality and the absolute reality, pointed out Swami Omkarananda in a discourse.
Knowledge of the self is the springboard for realisation and enlightenment and every jivatma has the potential to attain this state, say the sastras. The process is an inward journey when one’s perception of the world around and one’s relationship with it is constantly reassessed. This awareness makes a world of difference when the infinite variety in creation is recognised as something that is subject to constant change and the self as unchanging. Ignorance makes one identify the self with the worldly experiences that are in actuality appearances that keep changing as when one is happy or miserable, or understands as being born and then dying. The self remains unaltered and can perceive this truth when it analyses its experiences in the waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep states. The dream state which appears real dissolves into nothingness when one awakens. In the waking and dream states, it is the self in association with the senses. In the deep sleep state, the self is dissociated from the senses and the mind and is unaware of the external and internal world. When the experiencer comes out of this state, he is unable to describe it except recalling the experience as something blissful. Atma Tatva Jnana enables one to sift the false from the real and appearances from reality.
