Existence & consciousness

September 17, 2020 10:33 pm | Updated 10:34 pm IST

The essence of all knowledge is summed up in the statement, ‘By knowing the Lord one knows all,’ and the Lord can be known only if He chooses to reveal Himself to us. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord reveals His glories and explains in detail the subtle aspects of His Supreme Self that lie beyond the limits of Time and Space, said Swamini Satyavratananda in a discourse.

Sat, Existence and Chit, Consciousness are the exclusive principles of Brahman, distinctive and absolutely independent. They are not the part, product or property of anything in the created universe. Sat is existence or the ‘Is-ness’ while Chit is the consciousness principle, lending sentience to the created world. He says ‘I am the Self dwelling in the heart of all beings, who constitute my body.’ God is the soul of all the beings; all the sentient and non-sentient aspects of the universe together constitute His body. It is clear that the Self is the controller and supporter of the body.

If all things and beings exist with their distinctive names and forms, it is owing to Brahman who is present as the antaratma in their inner selves. The inner self, the atma in each being is imperishable and is independent of all the variety of nama and roopa in creation that is available to the human senses, mind and intellect and survives even after the body falls. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad explains this truth thus: “He who dwelling in all beings is within all beings, whom all beings do not know, whose body all beings are, who controls all beings from within, is your inner controller, Immortal self.” Brahman is the creator, preserver and destroyer of all and hence He is described as beginning, middle and end. This Existence and Consciousness Principle survives even after time of dissolution in this Vibhuti.

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