Atma Vidya
आत्मा विद्या
Light on Self
“A teaching like no other. Handed down from generation to generation from teacher to student through an unbroken chain Self-knowledge declares that long before we can even think of overcoming death, our immortality has already been won: pre-ordained by birth.”
Self Knowledge
The proof is already in the pudding!
Immortal just by being born human, the problem of death has already been solved, we just haven’t found out.
Having stood the test of time, ATMA VIDYA आत्मा विद्या confirms what prophets, saints and sages have been saying for thousands of years: ‘The proof is already in the pudding!’.
While most religious philosophies define the eternal as some extraordinary destination yet to be reached and yet to be accomplished, Self-knowledge of the Veda/Upanishads tears this idea apart.
Stating that already being born human being, we are the eternal destination we are looking for; already reached. That before we can even think of searching for a solution for ourselves, we are the solution. Self-knowledge tells us that Truth being ourselves, the Absolute is already ever reached. Other than knowing it, once the destination of Truth is pointed out, finding ourselves to be the solution, no other solution is needed.
Declaring that being born human in creation we cannot escape being the truth, man’s nature being absolute and eternal already, means the goal is already won and destination already accomplished. That seeking a solution when you are the solution doesn’t work. And looking in any other direction for what is already ourselves denies it and we never find it. Self-knowledge points out, for the absolute, immortality to be gained, being our nature, only knowledge is needed.
Sons and daughters of immortality
Our very nature is one of permanence
Not knowing what we are doing here, what creation has in mind for us or where the universe is taking us creates all our human difficulties and problems. But this is a problem only as long as we don’t recognise ourselves as the truth and the solution.
Seeing everything around us dying and impermanent, and change and death as the only constant in an ever fluctuating universe, we forget that: for change to occur, and appear real, there has to be something permanent. Something undying and absolute. That we are that permanent unchanging absolute and, that our very nature is one of permanence. That to be the eternal undying principle requires absolutely no effort, and no matter what conditions apply, we survive! Is not known to us.
Having always pointed out the truth of mankind, Self-knowledge uses one word; ‘I’ to explode the mystery and secret of who we are. One word is enough. For the eternal to be understood and its meaning made clear, we need to have the meaning of ‘I’ pointed out.
Brainwashed by education into believing that we are limited, while the east has always understood and taught this knowledge to generations, it is time for the west to catch up and for the truth to emerge. Having always taught that man, being part of the eternal creation; part of the universe is already the truth, while India’s civilisation flourished 5000 years ago built on this knowledge, in the west limited to a relative point of view, our education has forgotten to include us.
Already the ‘Sons and daughters of immortality’, until our education includes you and me and introduces us to the truth of ourselves, who we are remains secret and a mystery. Focused on individuality, our individuality is all we know and that there is such a secret to the human being, we don’t know.
Until recently locked in taboo and orthodoxy Self-knowledge was kept secret. Kept exclusive to only those who knew sanskrit – single males – barring women, becoming so secret it became secret even to the custodians themselves, after rediscovering and Resurrecting it’s methodology modernists have rescued atma vidya from exclusivity and translated it into English, so everyone, even children in primary school can benefit.
advaita vedanta
ATMA VIDYA आत्मा विद्या uses the experiencer to reveal the eternally present.
Remaining absolutely invisible, our innate nature keeps itself secret and a mystery. Because we have never been introduced, preoccupied and obsessed with our individuality, happening in each one of us is the mystery of the universe.
Having no appearance, Self is That in which everything is an appearance. While seemingly non-existent, not a taste, not a touch, not a sensation, remaining absolutely silent, it is in the presence of Self that everything appears real.
While everything else may seem real, on close examination, once we put ourselves under the microscope, by examining this ‘I’, we discover, Self alone existing, Self alone is Real. Self being absolute proves to be nothing but the fullness and permanence; the provenance of creation/life itself.
Regardless of how conscious or unconscious we are, as human beings, the Self being eternal and universal, already the nature of everyone, means we cannot escape. Our outcome is already assured.
That the truth that applies to all of us is one and the same and our only destination, while not being obvious is already won – already gained. Ignorance is all that is standing in our way. Knowledge: Self-knowledge is all that is missing
Should we believe it?
If someone can prove it by showing me I am immortal, why not? In any case, accept it or not, like it or not, already inseparably part of the unbound intelligence that is universe, already the living proof, until we accept it, truth already holding us all captive being all of us, being everywhere, challenges us and we cannot hide.
If a teaching tells me that I am limited and dying and death and change is all there is, is it telling me anything that I don’t know already? Telling me that change is the only constant in an ever fluctuating universe or, that death alone is permanent, is not telling me anything. Not showing me anything I don’t know, I don’t need a teaching for that.
Someone who can show me the opposite; that I am the immortal absolute; that instead of being ephemeral, in amongst all that is busy dying, something pure, absolutely changeless and permanent exists. Not only this; they show me beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this changeless permanence is nothing but myself already, without me having to do a thing – If a teaching can do this, surely I should be a little interested!
The secret
TRUTH
Self-knowledge teaches me something completely different. It shows me beyond all shadow of a doubt that I alone am the constant, the permanence in amongst all the changes. But, despite me experiencing it 24 hours a day in every waking, sleeping, dreaming moment until it gets pointed out, I don’t know it. No matter how hard I try, while the timeless is touching me 24/7, because experience is blind, and nothing in our experience of ourselves and our experience of creation tells us anything about the nature of what we are experiencing or, anything about the nature of ourselves, the Truth remains absolutely hidden, elusive and unknown. Existing in between two unseens, truth remains invisible !
Brainwashed and blindfolded by all our ideas, as long as our ignorance holds us captive, hiding in plain sight is myself – the Truth. If ignorance is still getting the better of me, still my bliss, still thinking my innocence is a virtue, ignorance keeps creating a vacuum the size of the universe. As long as I remain ignorant, the weight of the universe keeps pressing down on me.
Trying to fill the vacuum, no matter what I do, because ignorance creates the vacuum, nothing but knowledge can fill it. Once the truth gets pointed out, the vacuum instantly disappears and weight the size of the universe lifts off my shoulders.
Crisis
The Holy Point in One's LifeTo resolve the conflict and for the crisis to disappear, all I need to know is the truth of who I am.
Who am I?
My ignorance is my bliss
Until I get lost and in a crisis my ignorance still being my bliss my innocence is not yet a liability. If the crisis that comes along is mild, then if I think I’ve been saved by some kind of miracle. Reinventing myself I think I can keep on avoiding the truth. If the crisis gets big enough though, then ignorance no longer blissful becomes a huge burden, and in my innocence, I become my own liability.
Me being the only thing in crisis, getting conflicted and only one full of doubt, dragging the ‘I’ onto myself it keeps pulling me into crisis. Wanting the conflict to end and confusion to disappear, once the truth of who ‘I am’ is made clear, knowing the Self, makes all my crises go away.
‘I’ no longer a secret, the teacher unravels the mystery, and I am free.
We all being the truth and the solution already, finding out that I have always been the solution is Self-knowledge.
The architect and reason for the conflict and thing in crisis being myself, then I must be the solution! To resolve the conflict and for the crisis to disappear, all I need to know is the truth of who I am.
Vidya
Ourselves already being the Truth, already the solution, knowledge being all that’s missing is the only option.
Challenge
For society to survive we need to change by getting rid of our ignorance. As individual human beings and, as a society, we either accept the truth of who we are, or we will keep on struggling. Already carrying the truth, until we accept it, truth challenges us in every second. It is literally that simple. Up to us. Either we get the teachings and survive our behaviour because we change our behaviour or, left staring into the abyss, not only individually, but as a society our society won’t survive.
Right now as a civilisation in crisis, causing the crisis is one thing. The virus of ignorance. Ignoring ourselves, in crisis with ourselves, ignorance corrupting and replicating itself over generations, to save ourselves and appreciate our existence, one question needs answering. Only when we solve the problem of our human behaviour and get the vaccine of knowledge, by answering the question of itself, recognising itself society will fight to survive.
Fighting to reclaim its future, being the only thing in crisis and reason for the crisis, all we need to stop the mayhem is Self-knowledge. Self-knowledge administers the vaccine of truth that has always existed.
Pointing out what is Self-evident in amongst all that is apparently changing and dying, something constant, permanent and changeless remains. That is all powerful and eternal, and that this is nothing but myself changes everything. Able to face anything the future can throw at me, as a society Self-knowledge helps reclaim our common destiny.
Solution
Until someone points out my secret to me I remain an absolute mystery and secret to myself. No wonder we all live in such chaos and get in such a mess. Having been hidden under ignorance for so long, the eternal gem of creation yet to be found being oneself is the only solution and being the universal destination needs to be known.
Surely having heard about it, I should take all the steps necessary to investigate and do all in my power and whatever it takes to see for myself?
Perhaps, creation has not yet yielded a crisis big enough to make us want to find out its secret. Perhaps we have not yet been challenged and threatened enough to question the true meaning of ourselves and our existence.
But all that is changing. The Climate Crisis and pandemics escalating exponentially force us to question our behaviour. Until then everything being questionable what is happening to us as society is forcing us to look at ourselves.
Looking for answers, challenging our existence, answering the only question that is important and answerable: Who are you? What am I doing here? Knowing ourselves as that constant, that is pure and permanent amidst all of the changes is life changing and could be the saviour of the whole human race.
THirsty
for knowledge, desperate for our life crisis to be over, looking for an oasis, hoping for a little water to quench our thirst, in Self-knowledge we reach the perpetual oasis of the teacher and teaching and discover that
we are the water itself
John Weddepohl