CUTTING THE ROOT OF ALL SEEKING AND SUFFERING!
At the root of all suffering is the unexamined notion that I am a separate, limited or isolated entity. However, when we closely examine our existence, we realize that our being is not separate and limited. This fact is universally pointed by almost all the wisdom traditions of the world—that we are not the limited beings that we take ourselves to be.
When we look across various wisdom traditions, we discover that at their essential core, they all talk about a singular, non-dual Ultimate Reality. They all admit that this Ultimate Reality cannot really be expressed in words. However, they still express it variously as the Absolute, Brahman, Atman, Tao, Spirit, Supreme Being, Pure Awareness, Consciousness, and so forth.
Now, where should one look for such Reality? Here also, the spiritual traditions declare in one voice that the place to look for that Supreme Reality, the Spiritual Kingdom, is within us. How so? It is because the essence of our being is identical with the essence of all and everything. In other words, we are essentially at-one-with the Ultimate Reality.
The Vedic Seers expressed it succinctly in the following manner:
स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदम् सर्वं तत्सत्यम् स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो
a ya eṣo’ṇimaitadātmyamidam sarvaṁ tatsatyam sa ātmā tattvamasi śvetaketo
~Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7
Of all things, It is the subtle essence. It is the truth.
It is the Self. And You are That, O Śvetaketo!
It is the categorical declaration (उद्धघोष) of the Upaniṣad that “You ARE That!” The key point to realize here is the imperative that whatever that highest essence is, is already here. You are already that, right here, right now. The Upaniṣad does not say that “You will become That,” after you do this or that practice. Our true nature is not a progressive process; it is an im-mediate realization.
Ādi Śaṅkara, the great Advaita philosopher, urges that “you must realize absolutely that the Atman [the Self] is Brahman [the All-Self].” [1]
It is only when we realize this identity (aikyam) in our own direct experience, anubhava, that we gain freedom from all limitations, seeking, and suffering.
Until then, the relentless wheel of saṃsāra keeps spinning, inexorably.
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[1] See Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher lsherwood, (trans.) Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1975), 68- 72.
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