TRUE LIVING

Sri Rama in Yoga-Vasistha (1.14.1), through his discourses with Sage Vasistha, dwells on the impermanence of human life processes. He says, "Human life is as fragile as a drop of water trembling on the tip of a leaf. It departs from the body unexpectedly, like a raving madman breaking loose from imprisonment." Yoga-Vasistha speaks of the impermanence of existence and the uncertainty of death. It says life is not guaranteed, as it is so delicate, like a dewdrop that can fall at any moment, urging the seeker not to waste time on worldly attachments but to pursue spiritual knowledge. In that context, Yoga-Vasistha urges for "true living", a living that is towards wholesomeness and completeness and in consonance with Self-living and Self-pathways. It may be living the life of transcendental tranquillity, quiescence, detachment, equanimity, forbearance and Jivanmukta, or living liberation.. The pathways are Self-knowledge, Self-consciousness, or Self-awareness, or Self-realisation. It is a living free of Sankalpas, or conscious wishes, and Vasanas, or subtle wishes. In his commentary on Yoga-Vasistha, Swami Sivananda asserts that the world's pleasures pale in comparison to the infinite bliss of Moksha, or liberation. He says that true living is not defined by accumulating wealth, power, or worldly pleasures, which Yoga-Vasistha considers temporary and "worthless", but rather by gaining the ultimate, imperishable goal of Moksha, or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The ultimate gain is realising that you are the immortal, all-pervading Atman, or Self, which is pure consciousness and distinct from the body-mind-intellect complex. The uncontrolled mind is controlled to move inwards from its hitherto outward movement. The thought-manufacturing machine is transformed into a state of no mind. True living involves nurturing the four "gatekeepers" to liberation: Self-control, or quiescence (Santi); Spirit of enquiry (Vichara); Contentment (Santosha); and good company (Satsanga). True living is indifferent to worldly results, as he is living liberated, who acts in the world but is totally immersed in Self-living with attachment, equanimity and forbearance and is unperturbed by the state of opposites, as everything in the world for him is transient.

 1. Outline 

 True living is Self-living. Yoga-Vasistha (1.14.10) declares true living is a state of transcendental tranquillity. It is to orient consciousness from identifying with the transient psycho-physical, ego-driven, and phenomenal world to realising one’s true nature as the eternal, non-dual, and blissful Atman, or Self. It is characterised as a state of being where one recognises the essential unity of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss as one indivisible, imperishable, eternal aspect of Brahman universal consciousness. 

It is free from the mind-driven senses to experience Self in every moment and state of experience, from waking and dreaming to deep sleep. It signifies all, including the body-mind-intellect complex, align for Atman, or Self, of Atman, and become one with Atman. The Karma yogi, as per Srimad Bhagavad Gita (5.8-9), is in non-doership even if his body-mind engages in detachment in the phenomenal world of activities in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, excreting, grasping, and opening or closing the eyes. He sees all his actions and inactions as the repository of Self. Everything, whether manifest or unmanifest, is of, for, by and of Paramatma, or Brahman, or Supreme Self because Existence is One only. There is none outside and all inside. True living is Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Tejo Bindu Upanishad, 3.11); it is Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Brahma, or Brahman is Truth-Knowledge-Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1).

. The Upanishadic statements signify that the ego of the body-mind-intellect complex is subsumed as one with Atman of infinity of infinitude. "I am the ‘I’ that has given up ‘I’. I am one that is without anything. I am full of Chidakasha, or space of consciousness... I am ever replete with consciousness, without the attachment of the body, without thought, without the modifications of Chitta, the sole essence of Chidaltma, or pure consciousness, beyond the visibility of all and of the form of vision. My nature is ever full. I am ever fully contented, the all, and Brahman, and the very consciousness; I am ‘I’. My nature is of the earth (Tejo Bindu Upanishad, 3.1-3, 3.14-16). It signifies transitioning from the veil of Avidya, or ignorance, to living in a state of Self-realisation, where one recognises his inner consciousness as one with the Universal Consciousness, or Brahman. It recognises that true living is not the gratification of desires or accumulating possessions but freedom from the narrow, ego-driven, multiple identities, and fear-based existence. It is to stop living as a separate, finite entity and start living in the awareness of one’s eternal nature. "I am awareness alone. Cut it off with the knife of knowledge and be happy, my son." A short and firm statement of Sage Ashtavakra while teaching Sage King Janaka (Ashtavakra Gita, 1.13–14). This statement's ramification includes one pervasive, indivisible, eternal, imperishable and unshakeable identity with Atman. It is bereft of all types of multiple identities but of one Self-effulgent and Self-luminescent Atman, or Self. It involves identification with Atman, or Self, by realising, "I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am the eternal witness, Atman. I am pure awareness. Be happy and free forever." It is the shift from Preya, pleasant/superficial, to Shreya, or good/ultimate truth (Katha Upanishad). It involves recognition that Existence is One, and there is no duality of existence. It is true living that constantly and continuously experiences Jivatma, or the individual self, or Atman, which is not different from the Universal Self, or Brahman. True living is fearless, and freedom is one with Brahman, or Cosmic Self, the eternal, imperishable, Self-effulgent, Self-luminous, uncaused and not limited by limited adjuncts. Self is eternal, deathless, and beyond change; knowing it removes the fear of death, loss, and insecurity. True living is living without fear, rooted in inner peace and bliss.

2. Scriptures 

Scriptures pronounce living a life of contemplation, honesty, and truthfulness. Srimad Bhagavad Gita (16.1-3) emphasises that the basic credos of true living are to live a life of fearlessness, purity of mind, steadfastness in spiritual knowledge, charity, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity, and straightforwardness; non-violence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, restraint from fault-finding, compassion toward all living beings, absence of covetousness, gentleness, modesty, and lack of fickleness; vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, bearing enmity toward none, and absence of vanity. These are divine qualities that lead in the life elevation processes to liberation. The Mahavakyas, or Great Sayings, of the Upanishads also assert that to realise, experience and be conscious of Atman is to lead a true living in consonance with That only. They succinctly say Reality is one that may be

(i)"Prajñānam Brahma", Aitareya Upanishad (3.3), Rig Veda, refers to "Consciousness is Brahmān"; (ii) “Ayam Ātmā Brahma", Mandukya Upanishad (1.2), Atharva Veda, refers to "This Self (Atman) is Brahman"; (iii) “Tat Tvam Asi", Chāndogya Upanishad (6.8.7, 6.9.4), Sāma Veda, refers to "Thou art That"; and (iv) “Aham Brahmāsmi", Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10), Śukla Yajur Veda, refers to “I am Brahmān". 

This world, according to Yoga-Vasistha (1.14.1-23), is as a whirlpool amidst the ocean of creation, and every individual body is as evanescent as a foam or froth or bubble, which can give me no relish in this life. That is called true living, which gains what is worth gaining, which has no cause of sorrow or remorse, and which is a state of transcendental tranquillity. There is a vegetable life in plants and an animal life in beasts and birds: man leads a thinking life, but true life is above thoughts. Knowledge is an encumbrance to the unthinking, and wisdom is cumbersome to the passionate; intellect is a heavy load to the restless, and the body is a ponderous burden to one ignorant of his soul. A goodly possession of life, mind, intellect and self-consciousness and its occupations is of no avail to the unwise but seems to be his overloadings, like those upon a porter. The discontented mind is the great arena of all evils and the nestling place of diseases which alight upon it like birds of the air: such a life is the abode of toil and misery. As a house is slowly dilapidated by the mice continually burrowing under it, so is the body of the living gradually corroded by the teeth of time boring within it.

 3. Remarks

The ultimate realisation of true living is "Tat Tvam Asi", or you are That (Brahman). It is to become conscious of the essential oneness of the Jivatma, or individual Self, with Paramatman, or Supreme Self. True living suggests, according to Swami Sivananda, you are not separate from Brahman, or Cosmic Self; rather, you are no other than Brahman. He says that the individual, once stripping away temporary limitations of time and space, is identical to the universal consciousness. 

To live as the Self is to act from the awareness of this unity, making life an indivisible and inseparable existence rather than a selfish one.

- Asutosh Satpathy