Wake up and keep moving

Apr 26, 2010, 12.00am IST
S M BHASKER.

In matters of global concern, we tend to think that our own personal contribution is futile. An example of feeling such helplessness is that of the way we perceive the global climate change issue. Consequently, we tend to ask: How can an individual make a difference when the issue at hand is so unwieldy?


We may first understand that there is no situation so bad, no predicament so unwieldy, and no crisis so formidable that it cannot be transformed in a way that yields common benefit, either in its physical actuality or in the way we approach it. However bleak the global outlook may be, it can be changed into a positive one. And we are better able to make positive and effective contributions to the situation through meditative self-awareness, with our own inner awakening.


The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad affirms that he who has found and awakened to the self, the atman is the maker of the universe. The world is his and the world is he. While on earth, if we do not do this, we would be unable to avert avoidable calamities. Those who know the truth become in a way immortal; the others only experience distress.


In Vedic tradition, life is compared to a chariot, a ratha , and human beings are described as passengers on the chariot – ratha matasthivamsa . The world or the universe is spoken of as samsara, which means “incessantly in motion” and the word atman, derived from the root ‘at’, is understood to be the basic – that is, not to move forward – is to deaden the inner cry of existence. So, an awakened person is enlightened enough to not resist the flow of life. He keeps it moving.


Our ancients believed that ecology and enlightenment are inseparable. If we do not remember who we are and what our place is in the web of life, it is time to take stock. The crisis may be an evolutionary catalyst in the push towards a higher level – Self-realisation.


That being so, we must reconsider the way we see ourselves vis-à-vis the rest of the world. But the ego and the pull of the outer world come in the way. This, the ‘ego encased in a sheath’ – conceals the real me. According to Vedanta, the universal self, not bound or restricted by the ‘skin’, is a Self whose essential quality is oneness with the rest of creation, rather seeing itself as separate from it. This is the essence of the nature of interconnectedness we see all around us but fail to recognise. The moment we understand that we are an intrinsic part of the web of life; everything begins to fall into place.


The Upanishads affirm that we are all ultimately one, that this oneness is knowable as the pure Self, the atman, at the very core of our being, and that this realisation is accessible to all. Most of us do not live in such a state of consciousness because we have all been conditioned to see only the superficial side of our identity, the ego-self. Our predicament is the result of our ignorance of the true self.