Human Being = Body + Mind + Atma / Soul
Which of these three entities should a human being
really identify himself or herself with?
Swami’s answers thus: WHO AM I?
Am I the Body? I am not the Body; I am different from the Body.
Am I the Mind? No, I am not the Mind; the Mind is different from me.
I am not the Body, I am not the Mind; and then who am I?
I am the Atma!
The Atma which is
essentially God present as the Indweller.
We know our Body came from our parents and is made up
of atoms which come from the Universe. Hence, the body of every human being on
Earth gets connected to the physical Universe as a whole. Likewise all creation
is made up of atoms and all these atoms can trace their ancestry all the way to
the Big Bang, (which is supposed to mark the birth of our Universe?)
The subtle entity called the Mind plays a crucial role
and is the bridge between the Atma and the Body. The Atma is supposed to be
infinite and everywhere. How come then it can hide within the confines of a
small human body?
The best way to understand this concept is to look at
the clouds in the sky, they are interspersed randomly across. Clouds are just
water vapour made visible. But where there are no clouds, there is still water
vapour present everywhere in the atmosphere. We now understand how the Atma can be everywhere and also inside us. In other words,
just as a particular cloud has only a portion of the water vapour that exists
in the whole of the atmosphere, so also we have a “portion” of the Universal
and all-pervading Atma within us. This “portion” is coupled to the Mind and
Body, and that is why the human is often referred to as the embodiment of the Atma.
Why the Atma is more important
than the Mind and Body
The Atma is embodied and
is not quite free. Swami draws an analogy to a balloon. There is air within and
outside of a balloon. If the trapped air within the balloon has to join the air
outside, then you need to burst the balloon. What this tells us is that though
there is the Atmic aspect within us, it cannot give full expression to
itself because the Atma is bound or entrapped by the Mind and Body. This
precisely is where Swami question, “WHO AM I”? becomes very important.
As the Atma is God, clearly
God is our Master or Conscience and that is why we must give importance to the Atma more than to the Body or the Mind. If we allow our
Body to dictate our actions, we would be rather like an animal, guided merely
by base instincts. If we allow the Mind to dictate our actions, then there is
much greater danger. As the Mind is extra-ordinarily powerful, driven by
hatred, one could even become a Hitler or driven by greed, a huge swindler.
If one follows the Mind or Body, it can not only cause
harm to the individual, but may affect billions of people as seen recently when
a handful of greedy Bankers caused a huge economic collapse and a world
recession. The drug problem, terrorism and climate change problem to name a few
- all these result when people become slaves to the Body or Mind.
Since the Atma is God or our
Conscience, listen and put our Conscience in the driving seat and let It run
our life. Our actions will then be virtuous, full of love and compassion.
FOLLOW THE MASTER, YOUR CONSCIENCE IS YOUR MASTER
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