This gross part of man, this body, in which are the external
instruments, is called in Sanskrit, Sthula Sharira, the gross body; behind it
comes the series, beginning with the organs, the mind, the intellect, the
egoism. These and the vital forces form a compound which is called the fine
body, the Sukshma Sharira. These forces are composed of very fine elements, so
fine that no amount of injury to this body can destroy them; they survive all
the shocks given to this body. The gross body we see is composed of gross
material, and as such it is always being renewed and changing continuously. But
the internal organs, the mind, the intellect, and the egoism are complsed of
the finest material, so fine that they will endure for aeons and aeons. They
are so fine that they connot be resisted by anything; they can get through any
obstruction. The gross body is non-intelligent, so is the fine, being composed
of fine matter. Although one part is called mind, another the intellect, and
the third egoism, yet we see at a glance that no one of them can be the
“Knower”. None of them can be the perceiver, the witness, the one for whom
action is made, and who is the seer or the action. All these movements in the
mind, or the faculty of intellection, or egoism, must be for some one else.
These being composed of fine matter cannot be self-effulgent. Their luminosity
cannot be in themselves. This manifestation of the table, for instance, cannot
be due to any material thing. Therefore there must be some one behind them all,
who is the real manifester, the real seer, the real enjoyer and He in Sabskrit
is called the Atman, the Soul of man, the real Self of man.
The body is dying every minute. The mind is constantly changing. The
body is a combination, and so is the mind, and as such can never reach to a
state beyond all change. But beyond this momentary sheathing of gross matter,
beyond even the finer covering of the mind is the Atman, the true Self of man,
the permanent, the ever free. It is his freedom that is percolating through
layers of thought and matter, and, in spite of the colourings of name and form
is ever asserting its unshackled existence. It is his deathlessness, his bliss,
his peace, his divinity that shines out and makes itself felt in spite of the
thickest layers of ignorance. He is the real man, the fearless one, the
deathless one, the free.
Now freedom is only possible when no external power can exert any
influence, produce any change. Freedom is only possible to the being who is
beyond all conditions, all laws, Every human personality may be compared to a
glass globe. There is the same pre white light-an emission of the divine
Being-in the centre of each, but the glass being of different colours and
thickness, the rays assume diverse aspects in the transmission. The equality
and beauty of each central flame is the same, and the apparent inequality is
only in the imperfection of the temporal instrument of its expression. As we
rise higher and higher in the scale of being, the medium becomes more and more
translucent. All bondages of cause and effect. In other words, the unchangeable
alone can be free and, therefore, immortal. This Being, this Atman, this real self
of man the free, the unchangeable is beyond all conditions, and as such, it has
neither birth not death.
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