We have been repeatedly talking about knowledge which is an important requirement for realizing the Brahman. This knowledge should be ever alert. The knowledge can be compared to a car driver. If he is not alert while driving, there will be accidents. In the same way our knowledge should always be alert as a slight distraction may lead to derailment in the path to self-realization. Yama says that there are two persons inside the cave in the heart chakra of each living being, about which we have discussed earlier. They are like light and shade. These two persons are enjoying the benefits of our own actions. Yama says that this is not his own statement, but the statement of those great sages who realized the Brahman, of those who performed Naciketa yaga three times and of those who worshiped the five types of fires. The five types of agni or fire is worshiped daily by the men who lead a family life. It is a daily fire ritual prescribed by sastras. Worshipping agni is said to give immediate results.
We have considerably discussed on these two persons inside the cave. One is the Brahman and another is soul or jivan. Let us now understand more on soul and atman. Atman is Brahman, the creator of the universe and exists everywhere. He exists even in an atom. When we say that He exists everywhere, He has to exist in the soul also. Therefore soul is a place where Brahman is also present. His presence alone activates the soul. Without Brahman being present in the soul, soul cannot act on its own. At the same time the Brahman does not act by himself. The karmic account embedded in the soul is activated only by the Brahman in His capacity as the Creator of the universe. Therefore, Brahman acts both as the universal self and the individual self. In His capacity as the universal self, he is witnessing and in his capacity as the individual self he makes us to act. As there should not be any confusion on this point, let us take some time to understand this. Brahman is the creator of this universe. There is nobody beyond this Brahman. He does not have parentage and that is why he is called anathi and athi. Anathi means alone and athi means the original. After having created this universe, he is present everywhere just to witness the activities that are taking place. Please remember that he is not acting. That is why we called him smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest. He is the positive energy. Without his presence nothing in this universe will move. It is like having negative and neutral energies alone without positive energy. Without positive energy lights will not burn. This Brahman is called the God. He is formless and without attributes.
Normally the creative aspect of the Brahman is called prakasha form or a masculine form. This form of Brahman is also called universal consciousness, universal self, cosmic self, supreme self, atma, atman etc. The next is soul. The active part of the Brahman is carved our separately and is called vimarsha form or the feminine gender. This is called jiva or soul and is the cause of our present birth. The soul is governed by our karmas. The cycle of our births and deaths purely depends upon our karmas. We have already seen that soul and the physical body alone cannot act and the presence of Brahman in the form of positive energy is required for our existence. It is said that this soul and the Brahman are present side by side and hence they have a close relationship because of their nearness or closeness. From the foregoing we infer that there are two separate invisible entities within us. One is the self illuminating Brahman who is only witnessing our activities. The other is the soul who is the cause for our activities. But this soul cannot act without the Brahman inside. The witnessing Brahman is different and the acting Brahman (acting through the soul) is different. So there are two Brahmans. I beg to differ from this theory. There cannot exist two Brahmans as Brahman one and is universal. Brahman is omnipresent. Brahman is considered as the positive energy and is the source (not the cause) for our actions. It makes us to act, but does not participate in our actions. Our actions are decided only by karma which is embedded in our soul.
My contention is that the Brahman is inside this soul and he is only one Brahman within us. If there are two Brahman which one you will realize? If there are two Brahmans one becomes active and another becomes passive. This is not the description of the Brahman as explained by our sages. The fact is within the soul Brahman resides. There is a cave in the centre of our heart chakra. Inside this cave there is soul. Inside this soul there is Brahman. This you can realize from your own experiment and observation rather than theory. This explanation is not against the explanations provided by the sages and as a matter of fact completely in line with their explanations. The only difference is that they have given their interpretations in a secretive manner. This blog was also talking about the Brahman and soul as separate entities in all the postings prior to this. As we have sufficiently discussed, analyzed and understood about the Brahman and the soul through our earlier postings, it is time for us to move forward towards our goal. That is why this fact is discussed here.
tamilcinema
July 07, 2009 01:34 PM
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Anonymous
April 09, 2013 12:18 PM
Ravi, thank you for making this so clear:
The fact is within the soul Brahman resides. There is a cave in the centre of our heart chakra. Inside this cave there is soul. Inside this soul there is Brahman.
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MANBLUNDER
April 09, 2013 12:36 PM
The answer would be both yes and no. Typically speaking there is no difference between Brahman and soul; both are same. If you read Brahma Sutra, you will understand. I will explain this in more detail in today's article, which will be posted during course of this day.
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