Saksat Krta Dharmanah means the direct vision of truth.
The seers of Yoga possessed the same quality of certainty about their spiritual perception as most of us possess about our physical senses. They did not believe. They saw. Directly.
Revelation, in the Yogic sense, is not the reception of information from an external authority. It is the uncovering — kindled by sustained contemplation, disciplined practice, and the grace of a living teacher. Man contemplates, God reveals. And these truths are not merely philosophical propositions. They are verifiable — not by argument — but by direct personal experience.
Yoga: This is what gives you true vision.
The Five Coverings of the Self
We find that there are five sheaths (koshas) that cover the essential Self (Atman). But suppose that the student says there is no Self, no Atman, no Brahman. Well if there is no Self then you do not exist. How can you ever be non-existent?
Annamaya Kosha — the material body, sustained by food.
Pranamaya Kosha — the energetic or vital body, sustained by prana.
Manomaya Kosha — the mental body, sustained by thoughts and emotions.
Vijnanamaya Kosha — the intellectual body, sustained by subtle reasoning.
Anandamaya Kosha — the mindless body, sustained by the subtlest impressions.
Beyond all five — upholding yet transcending all of them — is the Atman. Pure Awareness. The Witness. What experiences the sheaths without being reduced to any one of them.
A sincere student might object here: "But what if there is no Self? What if there is no Atman?" The response is immediate and elegant. If there is no Self, then you do not exist. And yet here you are, entertaining the question. The very act of doubting the Self presupposes a Self to do the doubting. This is not a logical trick — it is a genuine pointer. The awareness that asks "do I exist?" is itself the answer.
One Self or Many?
The next question is typical. "If billions of bodies are here, how many ‘Atmans’ are there? Many or One?" Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita replies: "In all these bodies, beyond this outer covering, the consciousness which experiences everything, it is one consciousness, and I (God) Am That Consciousness.”
Wave and the Water
Burdened by a state of ignorance of who we truly are, we are like a wave not knowing that it is water. It is water but it does not know its reality or substance as water. There are several disadvantages of the state of ignorance and thinking you are just a wave:
Waves must go through endless birth, growth, decay and death.
Waves feel that they are cut off from all the other waves.
Waves feel frustration and envy, adopting a tsunami-like superiority or a bubble-like inferiority.
Fulfilled by the state of enlightenment achieved through the practice of spiritual wisdom, there are boundless advantages of knowing yourself as water:
You realize your Immortality. Immortality is realized, not attained; Immortality is inherent and fundamental so, truly, it cannot be gained or lost.
The wave had started as water, and even though the stages may look different as a wave, it still is water in the end, and even when the wave has completely subsided. I know I am, will be and always was, Sat Chit Ananda, Truth Consciousness Bliss, Eternal, no birth, no death.
When a wave knows itself as water then it feels one with all the other waves, it experiences its oneness with all waves and the entire ocean.
Even after enlightenment, after the wave knows itself as water, which is its real nature, does the wave disappear? Will you disappear? No. You will still be there. All will be there. Even after you know your real nature, the body continues, according to programming (Prarabdha Karma) and you will still have experiences. But now you live universally.
Name, Form, and Activity (i.e. body, mind, and world) are all transcended by the Self.
False Dissolves and Truth Remains
What is the method? First, we make ourselves aware of the difference between a wave and water. We must know what is a wave and what is water. The difference must be discerned, understood and realized. Then upon knowing the Self free from name, form and activity, after realizing what is false, ultimately we realize there is only one reality which is true, the wave realizes that it is nothing other than water, and in reality, there are not two things, there is just one.
Even further, being a wave does not affect the water. Water is not ‘affected’ by a wave just as the ocean is not ‘affected’ by its currents. They are one and the same.
Imploding Boundaries of Perception
For example, having eaten a piece of bread, it is just the boundaries of sensation which determines what is me and what is not me. Many feel that ‘on the body there are sensations so this is me and in another place I have no sensations so it is not me.’
The boundaries of sensational perceptions and experiences can be stretched or contracted. You can sit in a room and feel nothing or you can sit and extend your boundaries of sensation to the whole room. Anything that is within the boundaries of your sensation, you always experience as yourself. Bread is clearly not me but when you eat it, you just include it into the boundaries of your sensation and it becomes you.
So when you implode the boundaries of perception, you can sit here and experience everyone as yourself right now. You can even expand it further, and experience the cosmic landscape like you experience your very own body. How? Because YOU are the Transcendental Self!
This is what my 'I' sees.
Thine In Loving Light — Sri Sudarshan J.
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(Feel free to quote, cite the author, and share with everyone) Blessings!
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Sri Sudarshan Jyotirmayananda is the founder at SKYLIGHT YOGA and president at Soul Commonwealth Inc., the spiritual state, humanitarian charity and nonprofit organization. Residing in Miami Beach, Florida — he has attained "Brahma Jnanam." Sri Sudarshan was initiated into direct discipleship by two fully-illustrious and Self-realized masters of Yoga, His Holiness Pujyatman Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda and H. H. Sri Swami Rajarshi Muni. Their insightful teachings on Yoga and Vedanta are available through the SKYLIGHT YOGA University.
To explore Yoga deeply and profoundly with proper guidance, we invite you to enter the Yoga Life Coaching spiritual mentorship portal, with intimate study, direct instruction, and customized practice plans by Sri Sudarshan; join his original acclaimed worldwide spiritual adventures, Yoga Expeditions and immersive wellness retreats; or inquire about the upcoming international Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Sri Sudarshan in Miami, FL.
