What is Self-Realization?

The secret of self-realization is hidden in the four principal statements of the Vedas as mentioned in the Upanishads, the 4 Mahavakyas:

1. Tat Twam Asi

2. Ayam Atma Brahma

3. Prajnanam Brahma

4. Aham Brahmasmi

What do these mean?

The first principal statement states, 'Tat Twam Asi,' which means 'Thou Art That' – you are That, the Divine Soul. We are That, the Power that humanity cannot comprehend. We are not this body. We are not even the mind. This is denoted by 'Neti Neti' which means Not this body, Not this mind. Anybody reading this for the first time will wonder what it means. Let’s understand this.

The human body is made up of 5 elements. We start our journey as a single cell, the zygote that comes alive at fertilization. That cell grows in our mother's womb into an embryo and then we are born as a baby. This is the scientific truth. Then, this baby will grow, become an adult, grow old, and finally one day, it will die returning to its 5 elements. We think we are this body, but this is sheer ignorance. After we are born, we are given a name and throughout life, we identify ourselves to be 'our name'. But what are we in reality? At death, people say, 'He passed away,' 'He departed,' or 'He moved on.' Who moved on? Where is the one who was alive? Are we not the dead body, the corpse that lies on the floor? Of course not. This is just the mortal remains of the one who was alive. If so, where is the one who was alive? Where did the person go?

Some people believe that we are not the gross physical body. We are the subtle body. They think we are the ME – the Mind and Ego, that departs at death. They also believe that the Mind and Ego will be reborn in a new body based on the Law of Karma. The Law states, ‘As you sow, so shall you reap.’ As per this Law of Action and Reaction, we have to redeem the actions of our existence in the body that died. How will this happen? The ME, the Mind and Ego, has to take rebirth in a new body to redeem both the sins and the good deeds that it performed in the life that has just ended. This is explained by the fact that some children are born blind, in utter poverty, while others are born in the lap of luxury. Is this sheer luck? No. Do you ever see apples growing on mango trees? Impossible! There is a Universal Law that governs the world - the fruit on the tree depends on the seeds that we plant. So also, the deeds that we plant, bear fruit in the next life. Most of the world today accepts the Law of Karma and lives with morals, ethics, and values. While this is far better than just living as a physical body enjoying the pleasures of this world till we reach 'The End', is this the ultimate truth?

Those who are sincere seekers, realize that even the ME – Mind and Ego, is a myth. It is an illusion. It does not exist. At death, the one that leaves the body is the Life Energy, the Spirit, the Soul, the Atman. We are that Life Energy, Tat Twam Asi. This is what self-realization is about. But this is just the beginning of our spiritual journey. Self-realization will lead us to God-realization and finally Liberation and Unification with the Divine. One can consider different methods of self-realization to arrive at the truth including meditation, questioning and investigating, scientific reasoning, the law of cause and effect, virtual peeling of the body, the seer and seen method or the negation method.

The first principal statement, therefore, Tat Twam Asi is the key to self-realization. The other 3 take us towards God-realization.

Ayam Atma Brahma, the second principal statement states that the Soul that we are in reality is nothing other than the Divine. Just like the wave is nothing but ocean, we also come from the Divine and ultimately go back to the Divine. Because of our ignorance, we don't realize the truth.

The third statement, Prajnanam Brahma, states that the Divine is everywhere, in everything. Everything alive on earth is nothing but a manifestation of the Divine. The fourth statement, Aham Brahmasmi, is the most difficult to understand. If we are not the body that is sure to perish, if we are not the mind and ego, if we are the Divine Soul and the Soul is nothing but a manifestation of the Divine, then the ultimate truth is this – we are the Divine! We are a particle of God that appears as you and me. The true meaning of this statement is 'when we realize we are nothing, we become everything.'

These principal statements are not understood by human beings who are a slave to their mind and ego. The moment one realizes this truth, Tat Twam Asi, it decimates the existence of ME, the Mind and Ego, and thus, the ME fights hard to keep us enslaved in the cosmic illusion of life. Unless we go in quest of the truth using the gift of the intellect, we will live and die only to be reborn again and again and suffer and we will never realize the truth.