ON TRUTH

Yoga-Vasistha (Utpatti Khanda, Chapter LXVII) defines Truth as the non-dualistic realisation that Brahman, or the Supreme Self, is the omnipresent, ultimate reality. The best way to express it, according to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.3.6), is "Neti, neti" (Not this, not this). It signifies that Brahman, or the Supreme Self, cannot be described by any finite words, objects, or mental concepts, as It is beyond comprehension and reason. It expresses that Brahman is Absolute Truth and Pure Consciousness and is uncaused, unbounded, infinite, eternal, and non-dual. Absolute Truth is One only and not subject to limitations of space-time and existence. It is from Him that the transient universe manifests through His own will. Sage Vasistha in Yoga-Vasistha teaches Sri Rama that the objective world is Maya, or an illusion, and is guided by Prarabdha (predestination) and Purushartha (free will, or self-effort). The phenomenal world is projected by the mind, and absolute Truth is realised only when the mind dissolves into Self-awareness. The text explains that Jivatma, or individual self, is a non-distinct essence of Brahman, or the Supreme Self. This indistinct essence is a consciousness of perception formed by the interplay of Prarabdha, or predestination, and Purushartha, or free will. Yoga-Vasistha (Utpatti Khanda, Chapter LXVII, Lecture on Truth) directly explains the relationship between Jivatma, or the individual self, and Brahman, or the Supreme Self. Sage Vasistha, during the course of discourses, answers a fundamental question from Sri Rama: What is the true nature of the Jiva? How does it emerge from Brahman, and what is its essence? Sage Vasistha (Yoga-Vasistha, 3.67.2-4) answers that the Jivatma is nothing but the customised realisation or kinetic state of Brahman, or the Supreme Self, itself. Sage Vasistha means that Jivatma is not a separate, independent entity created from nothing; rather, it is a part of the Supreme Being. Rather, it is the infinite, eternal, complete, wholesome Paramatma, or Brahman, or Pure Consciousness, that has seemingly taken on a specific, active, and localised form through mind-centred thought, ego, emotion, and the forces of destiny and free will. Brahman, or Pure Consciousness, is unmanifest, formless, infinite, timeless, eternal, transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immanent. and exists everywhere, at all times. Manifestation, or unmanifestation, is His free will. The manifest universe is nothing but an exercise of His free will. Jivatma is part of the exercise of His free will, a shift from pure, unmanifest existence into active awareness. When Brahman assumes the attribute of individual consciousness, He becomes Jivatma, or the individual self, of His own volition. This grants Jivatma its own power of choice and desire. Brahman, or the Supreme Self, limits Itself to experiencing the world as a manifested being. Jivatma in its manifest stage is guided by two combined causal forces of Prarabdha Karma, or predestination, and Purushartha, or free will, or self-effort. Prarabdha is predestination, a blueprint created by one's past lives' actions, thoughts, emotions, attachments, detachments, and desires. Purushartha is one's exercise of free will and self-effort to invalidate destiny. Together, these two forces dictate one's roving in the Samsara chakra, or wheel of birth, growth, decay, and death, shaping one's life. Jivatma in its manifest stage is bound by Prarabdha, or predestination, and Purushartha, or free will, and subject to causation. Paramatma is free from bondage and limited elements of space-time-based causation.

 1. Outline 

The Upanishads describe Jivatma, or the individual self, and Paramatma, or the Supreme Self, as One, unified non-dual Absolute Existence of Pure Consciousness. Viewing them otherwise is negation of reality veiled by Avidya, or ignorance, and swayed by Maya jaal, or illusionary net. The Upanishads depict the analogies of Jivatma and Paramatma elaborately. The most famous depiction is based on two bird theories, Jivatma and Paramatma, which come from Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) and Svetasvatara Upanishad (4.6), which compare the two to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree, or the physical body. The first bird, or Jivatma, pecks and eats the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree, representing how Jivatma engages in Karma, or action, and passes through the state of opposites, pleasure and pain, due to the results of its desires and actions. The Second Bird, or Paramatma, does not eat the fruit at all; it sits calmly, purely watching and acting as the inner witness based on detachment, dispassion, forbearance, and equanimity. The active bird grieves and feels helpless in its attachments until it looks at the majestic, peaceful companion bird and realises their unity or deep connection; at that moment, its sorrow melts away. The Upanishads proclaim existence is One only with aphorisms like Aham Brahmasmi, or "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10); Prajñānam Brahma, or "Consciousness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3); Ayam Atma Brahma, or "This Self is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2); and Tat Tvam Asi, or "Thou art That" (Chandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7), declaring that the separation between Jivatma and Paramatma is caused by ignorance (Maya). Once the illusion clears, Jivatma, or the individual self, finds it is entirely non-different from Paramatma, or the Supreme Self. Other passages emphasise that while they share the same space, the Paramatma is the infinite, independent controller, and the Jivatma is finite and dependent on Him, existing as a spark or reflection of the Divine.

 2. Scriptures 

Yoga-Vasistha (Book 3, Chapter 67) states that Brahman, or Paramatma, wills or vibrates to create the Samsara Chakra, or the transient universe of birth, growth, decay, and death. How Pure Consciousness moves in that willed direction becomes an individual mind and creates the phenomenal universe. This vibrative intellect, according to Yoga-Vasistha (3.67.9), is Jivatma, or the individual self, and is known as the living agent of actions and the primary seed of the universe. The "vibrative intellect" of Supreme Consciousness, which is otherwise in absolute quiescence, when it first "vibrates" or stirs with intent, becomes Mahat, or the Cosmic Mind (Mahat). This vibration causes the infinite consciousness to limit itself as Jivatma, or individual self, assuming the role of thinking, desiring, and performing, which becomes the primary seed of the universe. The universe does not begin with physical matter. It begins as a psychological concept or "seed" inside this primary, vibrating intellect. This Jivatma, or secondary soul, or individual self, assumes a luminous form according to the light of its intellect and afterwards becomes multifarious at its will and by means of the pulsations of the primary intellect all over the creation. Jivatma identifies with its own thoughts. It takes on a subtle, radiant energy form often identified as Hiranyagarbha, the golden womb or cosmic blueprint. It becomes multifarious at its will because the mind imagines diversity; the universe appears pluralistic. The single consciousness splits itself into billions of different objects, elements, and living beings purely through the willpower, or pulsations, of the primary intellect of the Supreme Self. The phenomenal world is not a fixed, solid reality. It is a continuous, dynamic projection. The universe exists only because the primary cosmic mind continues to "vibrate" or think it into existence. Yoga Vasishtha uses this passage to teach Drishti-Srishti-Vada—the doctrine that creation is a product of perception. Purushartha and free will are deeply interconnected. Purushartha is the very expression of human free will known as the "four goals of life" (Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha); that free will is the exercise of "human effort" or "exertion". It stands in direct contrast to Daiva (fate or destiny). Without free will, the concept of Purushartha would fall apart, as a person cannot intentionally pursue an objective if their choices are completely predetermined. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.5) explicitly outlines the human psychological pipeline that connects Purushartha, or free will to destiny: "You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny." The Upanishad states that humans are driven by Kama, or desire. This desire sparks Kratu, or willpower, or intention. That intention results in Karma, or action. One's Purushartha, or free will, is the only tool one  has to steer this chain reaction. Katha Upanishad (1.2.1-2) highlights human agency through the choices presented to young Nachiketa. Yama (the Lord of Death) explains that two paths constantly present themselves to every human being:

Shreya: The good, the wholesome, and the spiritually elevating path; and

Preya: The pleasant, the comfortable, and the immediately gratifying path.

Yama states that a dull person blindly chooses Preya out of habit, while a wise person uses their intellect to evaluate and choose Shreya. The capacity to choose Shreya over Preya is the ultimate manifestation of Purushartha—breaking free from animalistic conditioning via deliberate, conscious will. Paradoxically, the ultimate goal of human effort (Parama-Purushartha) is Moksha (liberation). The Upanishads note that as long as you identify with the body and ego, you have the relative free will to act (Kriyamana Karma). However, when you realise your true nature as the Atman (the detached, witnessing consciousness), you step out of the karmic loop entirely. As taught in Vedanta, absolute free will belongs only to the Divine/Brahman. Human free will is a provisional, beautiful gift meant to be used to navigate out of worldly bondage until we achieve total spiritual freedom—which is, in essence, freedom from the restless human will itself.

Srimad Bhagavad Gita describes Truth on multiple levels. Truth is the ultimate metaphysical reality of Jivatma and Paramatma and the unchanging foundation of Existence. Bhagavad Gita (2.16) says that the unreal phenomenal existence has no eternal existence, and Atman, as eternal, never ceases to be. It says the seers of truth understand this distinction. Bhagavad Gita (7.7) declares that there is no truth superior to Paramatma, and everything rests on Him like pearls on a thread. The deepest truth is realising that Atman is immortal, untouched by birth, death, or physical destruction. Bhagavad Gita (17.15) explains that truthful speech must also be pleasing, beneficial, and non-agitating. Truth should be spoken with kindness rather than used as a weapon to cause unnecessary pain. Truthfulness is listed among the divine qualities, essential for spiritual growth, purity of mind, and inner liberation (Bhagavad Gita Chapters 10 and 16). Purushartha, or free will, is used to realise Brahman. However, Jivatma is a dance between Prarabdha, or pre-destination (the hand you are dealt), and Purushartha, or present free will (how you play the hand).

3. Remarks 

In Yoga-Vasistha (Utpatti khanda, Chapter 67), Sage Vashistha explains to Sri Rama the nature of consciousness, how Brahman, or the Supreme Self, expresses Itself, and how Jivatma, or the individual self, arises from Brahman through its own Sankalpa, or self-limitation intent. By describing how perception shapes reality and how the unmanifest Brahman projects the illusion of a divided subject-object universe without undergoing any real change in its intrinsic nature. Sage Vasistha, through his discourses, highlights the primacy of Brahman, or Pure Consciousness. What appears as a phenomenal creation is fundamentally an ideation within Pure Consciousness Itself. Jivatma arises when Brahman, or Pure Consciousness, wills to assume a localised sense of perception. Brahman, with His own will, focuses on specific objects of thought; it contracts into the notion of an individual "I". Sage Vasistha clarifies that the waking reality functions structurally identically to a dream state: objects, space, and time are mental projections cast upon the screen of Pure Consciousness. However, when one becomes conscious of his original state, the world of appearance is looked at as merely a conceptual construct, and that awareness frees the seeker from existential fear and dualistic bondage. If you'd like to explore this further.

-Asutosh Satpathy