Oneness of the Self with Brahman!
In the great epic Ramāyaṇa, we find that Sri Rāma asked Sri Hanumān-ji a question in the assembly: “O Hanuman, what do you think of me in relation to yourself?”
Tears were rolling down Hanumanji’s cheeks. Full of devotion and suffused with jñāna, the wisest of the beings replied, “O Lord…
1. From the standpoint of the body, I am your servant (deha-buddhyā tu dās’aham)
2. As an individual, I am a part of you (jīva-buddhyā tvad aṁśkaḥ)
3. But as the pure Self, we are One (ātma-buddhyā tvam-evāhaṁ)
4. This is my firm conviction (iti me niścayā matiḥ).”
Grace Notes: This answer represents the whole journey of the individual entity to the universal Self. These three viewpoints in fact represent three different stages of the spiritual evolution of the aspirants. When one thinks oneself as a body, then, the Lord is the Almighty and one is a devotee. When one thinks of oneself as the jivātman, the conscious, separated individual, then one is a part of the Lord, as a part of the manifestation. When one realizes oneself to be the Witness-Consciousness principle (Brahman), the Self and the Lord are one only.
To realize oneself as Brahman, declares Kaṭhopaniṣad 1.3.11, is the highest end, the Supreme Goal [of human birth]: सा काष्ठा सा परा गतिः sā kāṣṭhā sā parā gatiḥ.
Therefore, Upaniṣads speak about the importance of knowing the Brahman and the danger of not knowing It:
एतज्ज्ञेयं नित्यमेवात्मसंस्थम् |
नातः परं वेदितव्यं हि किञ्चित् || [Svet. Upaniṣad 1.12]
This Brahman alone, which abides eternally within the self, should be known. Beyond It, truly, there is nothing else to be known.
Kenopaniṣad 2.5 states, “By not knowing the Truth/Self, one is at a great loss (न चॆदिहावॆदीन्महती विनष्टि). Brihadārṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.8.10 calls a person who departs from this life without knowing the Imperishable Brahman as kṛpaṇaḥ (कृपणः), the pitiable: Whosoever dies without knowing the Imperishable is miserable; but those who know the Imperishable attain immortality when the body is shed at death.
Finally, “Those who depart from this world without knowing who they are or what they truly desire have no freedom here or hereafter. But those who leave here knowing who they are and what they truly desire have freedom everywhere, both in this world and in the next.” [Chāndgoya Upaniṣad 8 .1. 6] (Trans.: Eknath Easwaran).
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