Shankara

Where do I begin? Well let me start by saying I enjoyed this reading. It was very interesting to me and I found myself once again (along with my previous reading) in very deep thought. The overall sense of this passage is to encourage true and pure enlightenment.

This passage is written by an Indian Yogi and Philosopher, Shankara. The reading begins with a short sentence, "this universe is nothing but Brahman". Although I thought I had a sense of what the term "Brahman" meant, I wanted to go back to our textbook to clarify. Our text states, "In the Upanishads the word Brahman was expanded to mean a divine reality at the heart of things". Now I had a better idea and was able to continue my reading. Shankara asks many questions in this reading, and I thought for this blog entry I would state several of them and then share my opinion and response to some of those questions.

Shankara explains that we as human being should achieve a place in life where our spirit is basically separated from our physical environment. Shankara states, " when a great soul has found perfect tranquility by freezing his mind from distracting thoughts and completely realizing Brahman, then he no longer needs sacred places, moral disciplines, set hours, postures, directions, or objects...". I understand the power behind having the ability to do this. The idea of not having any worry, distraction, or contamination from the physical world would most likely be ideal for everyone. But I must say, I think it's highly unrealistic for most individuals. The fact is, that we are physical beings. We live in a physical world. The anatomy and physiology of our bodies allow us to experience the world through each of our senses. We have vision to view our surroundings, we have nerve endings so we can feel and touch, and we have auditory senses to hear activity in our environment. Most importantly we have cerebral function which allows us to analyze our surroundings, and have opinions that we share with others. In order for us as human beings to completely ignore many of these senses that we have evolved with, is I'm sure highly impossible for most. The idea of walking through a crowded city street, bustling with people and not watching them, or interacting with them is difficult to imagine.

Shankara suggests that we achieve "atman" or our deepest self and states, "this Atman shines with its own light...he who knows that Atman is free from every kind of bondage." These words are beautiful to read, and I believe in the peaceful message that Shankara is speaking about. In my opinion a balance between obtaining Atman and still truly experiencing our physical world would be ideal.