Subramaniam Anantharam

The Path to Self Realisation is as follows:

1. Purify one’s Mind (By Tapas, Yagna Daanam adi which essentially means following Karma Yoga – Ishwara Arpana and Prasaddha Buddhi – attitude of doing one’s duties alongwith regular Upasanas). This will lead to Chitta Shuddhi and Chitta Ekagratha.
2. Purified focused mind will lead to Clarity and this will enable proper Vichara to be carried out i.e Viveka ( Discrimination). Viveka into what is SAT and ASAT will lead to Vairagya. This in turn will enable Shat Sampatti qualities of Mind and thereupon Mumukshutva (Desire for Knowing Brahman) will arise.
3. Thus endowed with Sadhana Chatushtaya sadhaka becomes an Adhikari.
4. Adhikari now can progress further through steps mentioned in next verse to evolve in the Spiritual path and finally attain Self Realisation.

How does the SELF move and not Move?

When the Sopadika drishti is used every object and being in the Jagat is the SELF. So when any of these objects move then it can be considered that the SELF is moving.
When Nirupadika drishti is used then the SELF is ALL PERVADING i.e present everywhere in every space, object and being. Therefore there is no question of the SELF moving here as even if theoritically we suppose SELF could move then where would it move to?

Verse 7 – Ending of Delusion and sorrow:

The core Delusion of the Agnani is because he identifies with his Upadhis. He thinks he (the SELF) is the body, Mind or the Intellet etc. This delusion is the first step. The moment he identifies with his upadhis when the he comes upon anything that is suitable to his upadhis then the Upadhi reacts joyously and feels happy. Likewise anything he comes across which is unsuitable to his upadhis they react unfavourably and sorrow results. Thus Moha the first step leads to Shoka in step 2. Now to the Knower when all beings become one in his own SELF (Atman) whereis the question of being deluded any more? Any without delusion where is the question of going to step 2 Shoka? For one who sees Oneness everywhere what grief can there be. Thus Realisation i.e seeing Oneness between the SELF and all beings is how Moha and shoka come to an end.

Killing the Self happens in this manner:

1. The Self is ever present in each Jeeva atma as the innermost core
2. If the SELF is uncovered then the same realised Jeeva atma beomes UNBORN and UNENDING
3. When we do not realise the SELF due to ignorance the Jeeva becomes mortal i.e it has a birth and a death.
4. Therefore by not realising the SELF everpresent in us we have migrated from an ‘Unborn, everliving’ state to a ‘born and death cycle’ state i.e we have KILLED OURSELVES! This is meant as Killing ourselves and the result is that we continue to be in Samsara!Asura Loka is said to be in blinding darkness – The darkness referred to here is the Ignorance causing the non Realisation of the SELF. All such Ignorance covered jeevas residing in different lokas (including Swarga Loka) have Kama in them and only the variety and intensity of the Kama probably differs in these various Lokas. Because of these Kamas these Jeevas are perpetually in Karta- Bhogta cycle and the Ignorance i.e Blinding Darkness is continually present. These Lokas are termed as Asura Loka because of their preoccupation with Karta- Bhogta perpetuation cycle.

1. Self faster than the Mind: This is true because of the ‘All pervading’ nature of the SELF. Therefore wherever the thoughts of the mind reach the SELF is already present there and figuritatively it is said that Self has travelled faster than the mind to reach that place – whereas in actuality the All pervading nature of SELF does not call / require any travelling at all! Additionally the SELF is the cause for the Mind to be sentient i.e it powers the ‘life’ in the Mind. Therefore the Mind can never have a separate existence without Self and thus wherever Mind reaches SELF being there already arrives first!The Self not only overtakes the Mind but also the indriyas (the Senses – referre to as Devas in the Mantra). This is because actually the Indriyaas are ‘powered’ by the Mind and if the mind is inoperative the indriyaas cannot function. Mind therefore is figuritatively faster than the indriyaas.But we have seen that figuritatively the Self is faster than the mind and thus the SELF obviously and by a larger margin is faster than the Indriyaas too. The Self thus overtakes both the Indriyaas and the mind too.

The word ‘EVA” used alongwith ‘Kurvan’ is what gives the emphasis that such person’s inclination is work alone (and not the results). And when the verse continues to say that the person lives a 100 years doing work alone it clearly follows that the person is intoxicated by the work alone – i.e he gets happiness, satisfaction by the performing the actions themselves as otherwise it is not possible to continue working alone, performing without let up for such long durations like 100 years. If results focus were there than it follows that these results world sometimes be favourable and sometimes unfavourable. And when unfavouable results come it is bound to demotivate, and demoralise the person thereby leading to flagging/reducing intensity of his actions and this would therefore not be possible to be sustatined for long durations like 100 years etc. In effect the person is practising Nishkama Karma as if the karma was based on desires then he would have to be happy when his results are favourable and vice versa. It is therefore clear that in this verse the usage of the word ‘EVA’ is what effectively indicates that Nishkama Karma is meant.

Idam Sarvam is not a mental upasana or activity of seeing oneself as all else. When and if we try doing this it is putting effort in actually trying to imagine! In fact it is not ‘doing’ expansion to see one as all else but is actually an Undoing of Ignorance – scrubbing off of ignorance like scrubbing off the slime from the Chandan. Once this scrubbing off (of ignorance) is complete then the pure underlying Self will emerge / express itself.

The Upanishad prescribes the ‘Duty to be performed’ to one who believes desires need to be fulfilled for gaining happiness and has a nature that is totally action focused i.e externally focused on the world. Additionally such a person is simply not attracted to going internal and also to ‘unaction’ or renunciation aspects as he does not find any value in these concepts.
The Upanishad prescribes ‘Duty to be performed’ to such individuals who in fact constitute the vast majority of population inhabiting the world because such desire fulfilling action oriented persons are likely to follow an ‘action oriented path’ and when intense involved Actions are performed as one’s duties ( and not with much focus on the results) then purification of the mind – Chitta shuddhi starts to happen. Slowly such people start finding happiness in performing their duty directed actions themselves and the focus and joy they get from the results of their actions reduce. In effect what started as ‘SAKAMA Karma’ slowly gets converted to ‘NISHKAMA Karma’ whereupon their progress towards Chitta shuddhi accelerates and soon leads to Chitta Ekagrata. Once they attain Chitta Shuddhi and Chitta Ekagrata then their subtler mind starts appreciating the higher values of life the they become ready and eligible for the Gnana Marga! Thus the Upanishad by this prescription eventually enables in bringing the action oriented and natured person into the path of Knowledge!