KNOWLEDGE OF THE SELF - VERIFICATION :
The word Supreme or Truth or any other word mentioned above cannot be brought into the experience of man. We will replace the word for the purpose of enquiry by the word "Self". The Supreme is now called the Supreme Self, the Universal Self, the Individual Self and the Ego Self. These are the various stages in a man. The Self is the origin and the support. The Self is the source from which everything is coming into existence. The same Self is present in all the living and non-living beings including all substances. It is invisible and it is not available for scientific verification or for the understanding of man. It is the inner controller. It can be grasped by the intellect. Man requires no verification for its existence. From the Supreme down to the particle, both visible and invisible, force or energy everything exists under the support of the Self. Example: The Particle itself, the Planet itself, Mountain itself, Universe itself, Sub-atom itself, the Sky itself, Element itself, Prana itself, Death itself, Hunger itself, Understanding itself, God himself, the Soul itself, You yourself, I myself everything living and non-living is supported by the One Self, which is far behind the apparent and which appears changing and identifying with all relations and associations. We may use also the Self itself; here the word itself is redundant. The implication is that Self identifies with everything i.e., formful and formless. The Self has no name and form; hence the word the Self itself does not carry any meaning. As we experience in our life every word has meaning and form. `Sabdha-ardha-roopa' (Padardharoopa) i.e. `Word-meaning-form' relates to the substance only. Behind this word lies the Self nameless and formless, beyond limitations. Noun has got name and form; the pronoun does not possess the same.
Its expanse is wider - Myself, Yourself, Itself. Even then, the self is identifying with the expressions My, You, It. If these Pronouns also are not used it is evident the self is one and it is beyond limitations. The World and Universe is but name and form. In the total absence of all these lies the most natural and pure and placid, which is infinite, ever present and is all-powerful. One may also use the Supreme itself, which does not carry any meaning, for the Supreme covers everything and has no limitations. To put an end to regressus ad-infinitum, the Supreme is used to consume everything. So, the ultimate is the Supreme or the Absolute and we may say the Supreme Self, the Supreme Soul or the Supreme Lord, etc.
Let us take-up the issue how Self is present in man. If we examine the statement, "Mr. X studies the book and Mr. X himself studies the book" The only difference is in the emphasis supplied by the word self In the absence of self the statement is understood in a casual way. When the Self is used, Mr. X stresses that he studies the book wherein his total personality is involved. Where there is no self the personality is apparent and is incomplete and when we use the self then nothing is excluded and it includes the total personality of the man. Even then we are not able to grasp. Let us further enquire, for this purpose, we also make use of another word "I" for understanding the "Self". In other words, we are enquiring the Self by enquiring into the entity of "I". |
