SCARCITY AMIDST PLENTY

You are Atman (Self), the imperishable, eternal Witness Consciousness. You are that eternal Witness Consciousness, the changeless and self-luminous Ultimate Reality. You are the unchanging observer of the body-mind complex, its actions, and thoughts. The Jivatma, or the individual self, is identical to Brahman, or the Universal Self. It is beyond attributes and untouched by birth, death, time, space, and causation. You need to be aware of the Ultimate Reality that you are an inseparable essence of Brahman. You need only to arise, awake to the goal of realisation of Self, so says Swami Vivekananda in his clarion call to humanity. He says to arise, awake, and shake off the deep sleep of ignorance, weakness, and self-doubt. the sharp edge of a razor is that path. Swami Vivekananda popularised the assertion of Katha Upanishad (1.3.14): 'Uttishthata Jagrata' – 'Arise! Awake!' from the slumber of Avidya, or ignorance. Realise that Atman having approached the exalted teachers, the path is indeed difficult to cross and hard to tread, so the wise say—hard to tread and difficult to cross like the sharp edge of a razor. It is one of the most stirring calls of the Upanishads, from Katha Upanishad. It urges the seeker to rouse himself from spiritual slumber, approach realised teachers, and strive to know the Self. It warns that the path is as hard to walk as the keen edge of a razor—demanding courage, alertness, and perseverance. Realise you are Atman, or the Self, your true divine nature, and stop identifying with the limited and ephemeral body-mind complex. Stop not to persevere with absolute dedication until you achieve complete Atmajnana, or Self-knowledge, and Atmasakshatkar, or Self-realisation. That is the goal you need to be aware and conscious of. This journey towards Self-awareness requires steadfast dedication and the courage to confront the shadows within. You need to embrace the transformative power of Self-knowledge and let it illuminate your path, guiding you towards the perceptive truth of your eternal existence. By cultivating a more profound understanding of yourself, you unlock the potential for perspicacious growth and enlightenment. Your journey of Self-discovery through self-introspection allows you to navigate through the state of opposites: strengths and vulnerabilities, happiness and distress, etc. As you steer this intricate process, each revelation brings you closer to  Self-expression and Self-realisation.

1. Outline 

Atman, or Self, is whole, complete and full. It has no desire or requirement to complete the incomplete, to fulfil the half, or to complete the empty one. It is unattached and Self-luminous. It is its own cause, not subject to limited adjuncts of limitations of time, space and causation. Atman, or Self, is all-encompassing; everything is inside and nothing outside. Atman is Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Tejo Bindu Upanishad, 3.1-3.12); and Satyam-Jñānam-Anantam Brahma, or Brahman, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1).

The Upanishads appropriately describe this way: 

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ 

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1 and invocatory verse of Isha Upanishad).

That (the invisible, infinite Brahman, or Supreme Self) is whole and complete. This tangible, manifest universe is also whole and complete. From that Wholeness, this Wholeness comes forth. Even if you take the Whole from the Whole. The Whole still remains unaffected, eternally full. It describes the nature of mathematical and spiritual infinity. When parts are drawn from the infinite, the infinite does not diminish; it remains unchanged. It is often chanted to cultivate a mindset of abundance, recognise divine perfection in all things, and experience peace. In a similar way, another Upanishad describes Atman as

I am of the nature of consciousness. I am made of consciousness and bliss. I am nondual, pure in form, absolute knowledge, and absolute love. I am changeless, devoid of desire or anger; I am detached. I am One Essence, unlimitedness, and utter consciousness. I am boundless Bliss, existence and transcendent Bliss. I am the Atman, which revels in itself. I am the Satchidananda that is eternal, enlightened, and pure (Tejobindu Upanishad, 3.1-3.12), or Satyam-Jñānam-Anantam Brahma, or Brahman, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1). Why then rely on the body-mind complex to generate and stockpile unlimited wants and desires to camouflage sensually derived satisfaction through opposites of pleasure and pain? Externality is an illusionary world of transience containing everything to insatiate the desire level only to make satisfaction half-baked and perfunctory and non-existent. Swami Krishnananda (Commentary on Swami Vidyaranya's Panchadasi – Chapter 7: Triptidipa Prakaranam – Light on Supreme Satisfaction, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh) explains that unconditional happiness cannot be found by feeding worldly desires—because object-bound gratification is conditional, temporary, and cyclical. True, unbreakable satisfaction (Tripti) is a direct byproduct of identity with Atman, or Self. By shifting your identity from the frail, anxious body-mind complex to the unchanging, infinite Consciousness (Atman-Brahman) and of eternal bliss you realise you are already the source of the joy you were searching for. You are completely, fully, and forever satisfied. Sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda, in his commentary on Swami Vidyaranya's Panchadasi, highlights that if this Purusha (pure, unchangeable consciousness) knows the Self as identical with one's own Self, for what purpose and desiring which item will one enter into this body? By the reflection in twofold ways, Sattva (harmony & purity) and Rajas (passion & activity) in the properties of Maya (illusionary manifestation), there is the manifestation of Ishvara and Jiva. Ishvara is the Saguna Brahman endowed with qualities or attributes. Ishvara allows the infinite to be perceived and worshipped in a defined, knowable form. Jiva is the embodied Atman, or Self, the imperishable, eternal, pure consciousness limited by ignorance because of its embodiment in the mind-body complex. The creative principle and the individual sufferer are projections of the same Brahman Consciousness, the Jiva being the reflection of Brahman Consciousness through the Rajasic (passion & activity) qualities of Prakriti, and Ishvara being the reflection of the same Brahman Consciousness through the pure sattva of Prakriti. Prakriti symbolises the dynamic, creative, and material energies of the universe. It is the basic nature from which the physical universe arises, changes, and dissolves, operating under the observing presence of pure consciousness (Purusha). It is frequently associated with Avyakta (the unmanifest) and Maya. This interaction between Prakriti and Purusha forms the basis of the philosophical understanding of existence, which holds that the unseen forces of consciousness constantly shape the material world. This kind of relationship highlights how important it is to acknowledge both the material and spiritual aspects of life. The whole world, Swami Krishnananda explains in his commentary, is flooded with only these two things: the creative operative force of Ishvara working everywhere and the desires and the sufferings of the Jivas which they undergo everywhere. The entire world is nothing but a scene of the operation of Ishvara on the one hand and the indulgences of the Jiva on the other hand. This is the world, briefly put. Right from the will of Brahman to concentrate on the future possibility of creation, becoming Ishvara thereby, then becoming Hiranyagarbha, then becoming Virat, then manifesting itself as space and time, then the sabda tanmatra, etc., and the five elements, until Brahman Consciousness manifests itself through all these degrees of evolution and also until it enters into each one of them by way of immanence, God's creation is complete. This is called 'Ishvara srishti'. But when the individual, which is also pervaded by the same Brahman Consciousness, begins to assert its independence somehow or other, for reasons unknown, it gets severed from its relationship with the universal Consciousness, contends Swami Krishnananda in his commentary; it falls. There is a fall, as they call it, and the fall is the headlong descent of a topsy-turvy awareness of the Jiva (embodied Self) consciousness, which mistakes the external for the internal and the internal for the external, the right for the left and the left for the right, and becomes artificially conscious of a world apparently outside it. This phenomenon is called the waking state. Up to the conclusion of Ishvara's srishti, there is no such thing as waking consciousness. It is eternal consciousness. Waking consciousness is characterised by the externality of perception, whereas in Ishvara tattva there is no externality. Here is the difference. The Jiva (embodied Self) falls headlong down into Samsara. There is waking consciousness of an external world, and it is again seen in the dream world, and due to fatigue it becomes exhausted and falls into sleep and wakes up from sleep and again becomes entangled in waking consciousness. This cycle of Samsara (birth and death) continues in the Jiva (embodied Self). These are the two kinds of creation, Ishvara srishti and Jiva srishti—God's creation and the individual's creation.

2. Scriptures 

Maitrayaniya Upanishad (2.2) asserts that Atman, or Self, exists in every individual, and it is that innermost being which "moves about without moving" (exists everywhere), which dispels the darkness of ignorance and error, and which is serene, immortal, fearless and soaring for the highest light. What actually is satisfaction? The whole world is flooded with only these two things: the creative operative force of Ishvara working everywhere and the desires and the sufferings of the Jivas (embodied Self) which they undergo everywhere. Katha Upanishad (1.2.18-22) proclaims that knowing Atman, or Self, is not born; It does not die. It has not sprung from anything; nothing has sprung from It. Birthless, eternal, everlasting, and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed. If the killer thinks he kills and if the killed one thinks he is killed, neither of these comprehends aright. The Self kills not, nor is It killed. Atman, smaller than the small, greater than the great, is hidden in the hearts of all living creatures. A man who is free from desires beholds the majesty of the Self through the tranquillity of the senses and the mind and becomes free from grief. Katha Upanishad (1.3.10) explains that beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the mind; beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the Great Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest; beyond the Unmanifest, the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there is nothing: this is the end, the Supreme Goal (1.3.10).

Ātmānaṁ cet vijānīyāt ayam asmīti pūrusaḥ, kimicchan kasya kāmāya śarīram anusaṁjvaret 

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad  4.4.12). 

This Sloka from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.12) states that if one has realised one's own Self and has convinced oneself as to the certainty of the Self being everything, then for what purpose, desiring what, and with what intention will a person run after things in the world, and why should one take birth into this body? This verse, according to Swami Krishnananda, addresses Self-realisation once one discovers one's true, immortal nature, worldly attachments and physical suffering lose their purpose and grip. It is the illusory ego that binds one's identity to the transient psychophysical structure and, so, its emanating desires and needs. 

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad speaks of Atman (the individual soul) realising his identity as Brahman (the universal consciousness). When you know you are an eternal, unchanging consciousness, you realise you are not the body. Experiencing firsthand that you are Pure Consciousness, distinct from your mind and physical shell. "For what purpose and desiring what": Asking what could a completely fulfilled, infinite soul possibly want or lack in the material world. Why would an enlightened being continue to chase fleeting physical pleasures or grieve physical suffering when they possess the ultimate, permanent joy? The verse in the Upanishad states that seeking physical pleasures and fearing death only happens when you do not know who you really are. Once you achieve Self-realisation, you understand that you are already complete. Consequently, all cravings, anxiety, and painful attachments to the physical body naturally evaporate.

Asyāḥ śrute rabhi prāyaḥ samya gatra vicāryate, jīvan muktasya yā tṛpiḥ sā tena viśadāyate 

(Panchadasi - Chapter 7: Triptidipa Prakaranam – Light on Supreme Satisfaction). 

This chapter (Panchadasi – Chapter 7: Triptidipa Prakaranam – Light on Supreme Satisfaction) expands directly on the famous Sloka from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.12): "Knowing the Self, the Atman, for what purpose and desiring what does one suffer attachment to this physical body?" The Upanishadic text dives deep into the philosophy of the Self. Living liberation refers to a Jivanmukta—a person who has achieved Self-realisation and ultimate liberation while still living in a physical body. The scripture illustrates that such a realisation is like a fish in the ocean, surrounded by water on all sides but completely independent of it. Because they are completely fulfilled in the Absolute Self, they no longer chase fleeting worldly desires. Similarly, Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.12) states that, from above, from below, and from the right, left, top, and bottom, Brahman is flooding us from all sides. What is it that we want in this world? In the middle of the ocean, we are asking for water. The same applies to a person who desires material possessions in the world. Will a person pursue worldly possessions when he is overwhelmed by the original source of all things, the granter of all boons and blessings? It will be like a fish inside the ocean asking for drinking water. Will that have any meaning whatsoever? Such a predicament will not arise in the case of one who has attained the Self. In realising the Self, one transcends the superficial desires that often dominate human experience. This incisive understanding brings about a sense of fulfilment that renders worldly pursuits trivial, allowing for a deeper connection with the essence of existence itself.

3. Remarks 

Ashtavakra declares, "I am awareness" in his dialogue with the wise King Janaka (Ashtavakra Gita, 1.9, 1.13–14, 11.6). "I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am awareness; when one reaches the highest state, they forget what has been done and undone." According to Ashtavakra Gita (11.6), it emerges when a person transcends the body-mind-intellect system and is in harmony with Brahman, the Universal Self, or the Cosmic Self. Instead of being a byproduct of the body-mind-intellect system, this state is an integral part of Reality that transcends it and becomes one with the Universal Self. A state of liberation, where the person understands their true nature and feels united with all existence, results from this profound realisation. This unity fosters a deep sense of inner peace and connectedness, allowing individuals to experience life from a perspective that transcends psychophysical limitations. In this enlightened state, the boundaries of individuality dissolve, revealing the underlying oneness that binds all beings together.

-Asutosh Satpathy