Common misconceptions about Self Realization

Common Misconceptions about Self Realization 

A series of recent incidents opened a discussion about self realized gurus. What they are perceived to be and how they often disappoint. 

I know two brothers who for the past couple of years have been stretched thin due to the rapidly declining health of both parents. One brother is spiritually inclined, the other not at all. The one who leans toward spiritual routines has been initiated into these by a guru who he met through his wife’s family. Besides the common circus that both brothers have been doing, handling their demanding jobs and the care of their parents, the younger brother is additionally devoting time towards his spiritual duties. When he takes off to meet his guru in the midst of being with his parents, it irks his brother. If the guru has a sixth sense doesn’t he know better to ask his disciple to not leave the side of his parents ? 

The question was steeped in sarcasm stemming from deep distrust in spiritual gurus in general and his brother’s guru in particular. 

What needs to be understood here is sixth sense and common sense. 

Common sense tells us that if parents need our immediate attention and care, God can wait, Guru can wait. To tell a disciple to prioritize service to parents if that is the need of the hour requires common sense, not sixth sense. Any ordinary person can have this sense. There is no reason to think that the guru in this situation lacks it. If he did not tell the disciple to not leave his parents and come all the way to meet him, there could be other reasons for that. May be it wasn’t he who asked the disciple to come. May be some other people coaxed him to go. Or may be he genuinely was aware that taking a day off from parent duty would not create any significant inconvenience and in fact be beneficial to his disciple. There could be a number of plausible reasons. 

The misconception lies in the mind of the brother who questions the authority of the guru based on a presumption that the guru ought to have some sort of a sixth sense, through which he ought to see that the parents are not well and hence he should guide the disciple to stay with them instead of asking him to come to himself. The basis of his argument is that the guru ought to be omniscient.

Self realization is not synonymous with omniscience. 

Self realization is referred to as dnyan or Atma dnyan. A self realized person is called Dnyani or Atma dnyani.

Omniscience is Sarva-dnyan. An omniscient being is called sarvadnya.सर्वज्ञ.

The two terms ज्ञानी & सर्वज्ञ are not synonymous.

Self realization is the process by which one transcends the barriers of mind and body and finds the pure essence of himself and simultaneously also the fact that the same essence pervades rest of creation. The process calls for stringent ethical standards and minimizing of personal needs. 

One who has successfully achieved the difficult feat of sifting the real self out of the thick layers of entities that reveal as non-self, qualifies to be called a self realized or enlightened person. 

He is said to have graduated in the science of atma vidya, atma dnyan, Bramha vidya or knowledge of the self. Like any qualified person in any profession or faculty, a person well versed in Bramha Vidya and identified with the pure self is qualified to become a teacher of that subject. 

The process of mind purification that precedes the final revelation can sometimes lead to a certain amount of clairvoyance but that is not a requirement or consistent occurrence. Occasionally special occult powers may accompany the state of self realization. Even these are not essential. Some self realized people have demonstrated these powers on rare occasions. But that is merely to get people interested in the message they carry. Miracles are the easiest way to get people to listen. 

The reality is that self realization carries no mandate for super powers or miracles. It is a way of life that makes you investigate your own real existence. In the process of that search you gain valuable insights into humanity and the relationship of a human being with everything and everyone around himself. It also facilitates disengaging one’s identity from features that are time and space dependent. That is the basis of moving from mortality towards immortality. Like the study of any other science it calls for a certain amount of dedication and discipline. 

A person versed in Atma Vidya is simply a person versed in that specific subject. Just like a medical graduate is versed in medical science. A singer is trained in vocal music. The more they practice their art or trade, the more experienced or proficient they become. The same applies to a self realized person. He brews in his knowledge. A singer is not expected to teach medicine, a doctor is not expected to know law, a lawyer is not expected to program software and a programmer is not expected to conduct a symphony. Occasionally a person may have more than one talent or skill.  But you can’t find someone who has all skills in the universe. Dnyaaneshwar is considered one of the finest examples of a self realized genius. But he did not practice medicine or earn renown as a musician or painter or sculptor. He spoke and taught about Atma Vidya and related topics such as devotion, karma yoga etc. There are anecdotes about some miracles he performed. The goal of those extraordinary feats, as discussed earlier, was to make people pay attention to the valuable message he carried to uplift them from their state of ignorance. He is considered by many to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Yet in that particular manifestation he fulfilled only a specific role. An authentic guide for the path of self realization. 

From the highest point, every person, whether dnyani or not, is a manifestation of the supreme being. Every manifestation has unique and limited set of powers and abilities.

 Omniscient, omnipotence and omnipresence are characteristics of the Unmanifest being. These characteristics do not apply to manifest beings.

Self realized persons are otherwise ordinary people who have conducted a search within themselves and torn past internal barriers to reveal their eternal identity. They still must conduct normal transactional operations in the world as per their place in society. It is a grave mistake to go to them seeking miracles or demonstration of some supernatural power. Go to them if you are seeking peace or internal reform. Go if you are seeking a direction in your life. Go if you are having difficulty interpreting scripture or texts on Atma Vidya. Go if you want to connect with the Unmanifest reality within yourself and around you. They can facilitate that meeting if you have difficulty doing it by yourself.

A real guru never ceases to be a student himself. He continues to learn from honest investigation, dialogue and observations. He shares what he has with the sole purpose to help another person grow. He seeks nothing in return. 

How does a man who has attained self realization view God?

He understands first hand the Unmanifest entity within himself that is independent of perceptible manifest entities both within and outside of himself. He knows he is THAT unmanifest entity. At that level, he knows that God, Guru and he are one and same entity. Also, that everyone else and himself are also the same entity.

Therefore when he positions himself in his manifest level, he is neither superior nor inferior to any other manifest entity from point of basic essence. Superior and inferior exist only for transactional purposes like when you are in a courtroom, the judge is superior to anyone else. Outside the courthouse he is an ordinary citizen.

From manifest level God and Guru are at higher levels and a man of self realization prostrates to them in every way, figuratively and otherwise. He recognizes them in the manifest universe. That is the basis of his humility and preparedness for learning. He also recognizes the ignorance superimposed on them in the form of egocentric personalities. That is the basis of his understanding, and consequent empathy and generosity. 

Does a man of self realization have an ego?

Yes, he does have an ego, just like he has a physical body and functioning mind. The only difference between him and others is that he has learned to not give importance to impulses arising from the ego. Ego is Iike an unruly child he has to manage constantly. But through its behavior he is able to understand the unruly behaviors of other people. That contributes to empathy.

Ego is a liability for him because when it manifests out of his control it can be cause for humiliation. He is put in a position to apologize for the behavior and his credibility can be compromised or threatened. Saints like Dnyaaneshwar have earned credibility by modeling strict control of their egocentric impulses. Yet when we study their biography carefully we find instances that allow a glimpse into those rare times when the ego surfaced and corrective action was necessary. They learn to continually keep their eye on their ego like one would on one’s toddler.

I recently had a conversation with an old classmate from my medical school. He is exceptionally well read and I admire him a lot for what he is. I was surprised when he told me that he was miffed when he attempted to read the Bhagwad Gita. Krishna talking about himself and his powers felt too egotistical to him so he quit reading the book halfway. This is a perfect example of reading incompletely and without full context or proper guidance. When one reads that book completely and more carefully, it is unlikely to arrive at a quick judgement about Krishna. Specifically a reader is encouraged to pay attention to the particular shloka( verse 11 of chapter 9) where Krishna in no uncertain terms mocks the intelligence ( moodah) of those who consider him to be an ordinary human being like them and failing to recognize the transcendental nature. That verse, along with several others where Krishna enumerates where to find HIM in the extensive paraphernalia of creation, should educate a reader that Krishna is hardly talking from an egocentric perspective like one of us. He is telling things very matter-of-factly with the objective that a sincere student can rise above wrong notions and recognize divinity in its true form. It was evident to me from the conversation with my classmate that if an intelligent and well read individual could take things out of context and arrive at erroneous conclusions then it must be really easy for the illiterate and ignorant folks to not understand such a valuable text. It brought my focus to the point that we tend to see the world through our lens and our lens is colored by our concepts. Most intelligent people would resist the idea of putting aside the conceptualizing mind when seeing things in order to see them as they are. 

Do self realized people remain neutral about issues?

Since they do possess an ego, self realized people have choice for an opinion. They do not identify with the opinion but they do endorse it and guide their bodily actions to align with the beliefs. Self and belief are not the same thing. Actions and beliefs need alignment to qualify for integrity.

From the point of physical body, the self realized person is NOT Ishwar or God, in the sense of the role they play. Duties of the individual human are limited. He is not in charge of maintaining or governing the world. Ishwar or God is in charge of those responsibilities. 

However the world stands on a rule of law. There are consequences to actions. If you lie, sooner or later the lie will be exposed and your credibility will be compromised. If you jump from a tall building you may be injured or killed. If you save someone from drowning you may receive gratitude. If you steal from a bank you will go to jail. If you cheat on your spouse, you may lose the respect and trust of your family and friends. Some results of actions may not manifest immediately or recognizably. They remain discrete and come when least expected. But nothing escapes the record in the books of Ishwar.

When a self realized person chooses to take a stand, if he truly understands that at the root of it he and Ishwara are the same substance, he will not have an inclination to contradict Ishwara. He will follow the rules that govern the world. In other words he will not cheat, steal, hurt other people or their property. He will honor basic rules of morality and not mislead other people to break the rule of law. He will uphold basic principles of equality and justice, respect and dignity. When these basic values appear to be compromised by someone it is reasonable to doubt that they know the self or they understand Ishwara.

But even so, doubt is different from fact.

It is unwise and unfair to comment about anyone without knowing facts. Not believing is ok. But presuming anything as a fact, and/or dismissing anything as false, without an effort to determine the validity of our presumption is not right. It is plain stupid and immature. Even irresponsible. Yet we see this happening over and over again. People dismiss science. People dismiss research. People dismiss art. People dismiss people. Without a sound basis for the dismissal. 

I can only hope that people can begin to see Atma Vidya in the same light as they see any other branch of science or art and give equal consideration to the students of this subject. It is as absurd to call Atma Vidya as fake and useless as it is to call art as fake and useless. It only reveals the ignorance of the person who sees it that way.