Meditation on Atman or Brahman
1. Aham Brahma Asmi I AM BRHMAN I AM SELF
The real identity of ‘I’ is Unoccupied Awareness. The state of SELF.
‘I’ is not a body, person, thought or not a sense. ‘I’ is pure consciousness.
‘I’ is the impersonal Seer which is the source of mental energy and guide of and witness to transformation of mental energy as mental functions but unaffected by them and transcending both mental functions and their cessation.
2. Tat Tvam Asi THAT IS YOU YOU ARE THE SELF
Self and Pure Consciousnesses are same in nature, content, structure, form (function) and presence. At a given moment either self-consciousness or pure consciousness will be present. Self-consciousness is super imposition over pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is continuous, self-consciousness is transient and transitory.
3. Ayam Atma Brahma THIS ATMAN IS BRAHMAN ATMAN= BRAHMAN=SELF
Atman is Brahman – Unoccupied Awareness –- Energy Presence without transformation.
4. Prajnanam Brahma PRAJNANAM IS BRAHMAN PRAJNAAM IS SELF
Brahman – as Atman –– Energy Presence – is Mental Time- Space and Continuous Awareness.
Prajnanam is Unoccupied (by cognition, thoughts, cognition-related and created experiences, senses or their retrieval) Awareness in Pure Consciousness.
5 Raso vy Saha AWARENESS OF MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE/EXPERIENCED OF MEANING IS BRAHMA ALL SOUNDS &SENSES ORIGINATE & MERGE IN SELF
Experience of Essence of the meanings of all vakyas (sentences) - All Cognition-related experiences in the awareness of the Atman- Meaningful Experience. Silence. Peace. Bliss. Experienced meaning. Purport.
6. Anando Brahma BLISS IS BRAHMAN STATE OF SELF IS STATE OF BLISS
Unoccupied Awareness is bliss.
7. Sarvam Khalu Idam Brahma ALL IDAM IS BRAHMAN ALL KNOWN/ PERCEIVED / EXPERIENCED/UNDERSTOOD WORLD IS PART AND PARCEL OF AND CONTAINED IN SELF; IS A SUPERIMPOSITION ON THE REAL I STATE
Idam, (prapancham or jagat ) ( all the world - the collection of cognitions sensed by sense organs through the medium of manas) – is composed in, made up of, sustained by, rests in and ceases to be because of and part and parcel of psychic energy pulse generator – Atman.
b) WHAT IS ‘I’?
The real identity of ‘I’ according to Upanishads:
The term ‘I’, denotes human consciousness. Human consciousness is awareness of human mind.
‘I’ is not a term denoting any of an individual, individual’s body, self-consciousness, the social status, age, gender etc.,
‘I’ is the unoccupied awareness or pure consciousness in the individual in the Jagrat Sishupti (wakeful sleep) consciousness state when peace, bliss, silence and oneness or non-duality is experienced.
‘I’ is not a person, a thought, a sense, an experience or an understanding. ‘I’ is a consciousness which transcends all these and is a non-transforming seer and witness to all these and is revealed and experienced as peace or bliss or silence in wakeful sleep conscious state- the mind-transcending phase when all mental activities in the form of thoughts and senses etc, -cease to be. And one has to refer to this natural mental state when one refers to ‘I’.
‘I’ is unceasing, undivided continuous blissful conscious awareness.
‘I’ or Atman is consciousness present always (in all phases of mind) and is super-imposed but untouched by mental functions during wakeful (Jagrat) and dream (Swapna) conscious states and becomes sense/mood or thought or expression. Self-consciousness arises in these two states and then ‘I’ is identified with individual’s body, sense and thoughts about I, me, mine, mental capabilities, gender, social status, age etc, and masks pure consciousness.
In deep sleep (Sushupti) conscious state (like zero in number system without value but is essential and significant) there is no awareness of the body, the within or without of the body. No ‘I’ expression, thought, feeling or sense or experience relating to individual exists in this mental phase.
‘I’ or Atman is an eternal consciousness transcending the three conscious states – wakeful, dream and deep sleep- and observes all the mental activities or cessation of such activities taking place in these three mental phases. ‘I’ is also present during these phases as continuous consciousness/awareness to happenings within and without of the body.
Atman as Sat gives humans the ability to relate themselves to the body, their self (egoistic mind), aches/pains/sensations within (to have self-consciousness) and without of their body, as Chit gives the ability to know, to perceive, to think and as Ananda to experience, to understand, to create and remove moods, to know the meanings of utterances and experiences and as Sat-Chit-Ananda gives humans the ability to be aware of all these. If humans are involved in these mental functions with an egoistic mind, they are self-conscious (jivatma / egoistic state of mind / individual) and if they witness these transcending as a seer or witness (saakshi - seer) un-involved and unaffected, they are pure consciousness (paramatma / ego-less / ego-transcending /Divine).
Upanishadic awareness uses the terms Atman, Brahman, Sat (Being), Chit (Pure Consciousness), Ananda (Bliss), Prajnanam (mental time-space – Unoccupied Awareness), Santhi (Peace), Maunam (Silence/Quietude/Mental Solitude) synonymously.
In short, meditation on Atman or Brahman or calming the mind consists in concentrating the mind on a chosen thing or contemplating on a chosen concept or expression or insight.
