Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, June 2002

A common phenomenon we perceive in the world is that for everything there is the necessity of a protective cover. Birds have protective feathers, animals have hairs and skin, a slimy shellfish has a hard cover, the fishes have scales, the earth has a crust and so on. As there are covers created by nature, there are man-made artificial covers too. Some of these are required for the obvious purpose of protecting the stuff for a period longer than its natural life. And the rest are occasioned due to our flouting and mishandling the normal course of situations, environment and natural laws. We have, in the process, mastered almost cent per cent professional accuracy in the art of covering. From patching up of the Ozone layer to the erection of colossal pyramidal protectors, we have shown our extra-ordinary talent in maintaining and discovering covers.

As a matter of fact we cannot do away with the necessity of covers. We need to have covers; and in the future there will be even greater demand for covers. We need covers of various forms, layers and grades to protect or preserve valuables. The Atman needs the covering of five sheaths (pancha-koshas), and a house with nine doors (nava-dwara-puram) to live in.

Today, even as we are the protectors of our selfish interests, even so we are the clever undoer of ourselves. We are clever enough to bring about disaster in many fields of our existence. For whom do we labour in such a foolish way? Ironically, it is for ourselves and for our progeny! We have vitiated and polluted the whole atmosphere in our attempt to build a peaceful home, the corner stone of happiness. As a result, we are now busy wrapping up every thing with protective and durable covers. But, here again, our progressive wisdom has landed us in another irony: we have designed eye-catching covers to hide inferior stuff including our own hollowness!

What are the consequences? We have been forced to live in an age of dazzling and glittering superficiality. Nowadays, the depth of our intellect is fathomed by the quantity of information it holds, the expansion of heart is measured by the extent of our acquaintance with leading underworld figures, and the growth of our personality is counted by how many million dollars we own! We present every thing with face-lifting treatments. We have books with attractive covers, tastefully decorated drawing rooms, inviting receptions, showrooms which display attractive goods, our persons are dressed with costumes prepared by the latest designer, and so on. Precisely, the trend is to make every one and every thing conspicuous with covers and make the face value appear dearer than the intrinsic value. The apparent has become real. We have forgotten to look into the content and not the container. On the one hand, there has been the growing trend of falsehood and deception concerning the need of covering, and on the other, the increasing cry for honesty.

At the same time, it will not be proper to look down upon and criticize every thing modern. More often than not much opposition has to be faced if any zeitgeist is called in question, no matter however harmful the inertia may prove to the future generations. We do not like to be told by others how we should behave. 'We are our own masters.' If it is true that 'from bereavement and loss of fortune' the conviction of the evanescence of the apparent comes, let it be. The scriptures also nod in assent: let it come that hard way as the final education to the unwise.

But our point is not to denounce everything modern. We try to mean: let us call a spade a spade, a cover a cover. Our sadness is about the growing trend of projecting something with a cover as something else. In the garb of professionalism in packing and covering, a professionalism in harbouring falsehood and deception has been surreptitiously creeping in and strangulating values and truth! We have institutionalized hypocrisy. There is no harmony between the smile on the lips and the warmth of the heart. A tax-evading charity, a camouflaging sympathy, and all that goes as eye-wash--are not comfortable cases to plead for. What will happen ultimately? As we are not true to others, we will not be able to be true to ourselves. It is here and here alone that we court defeat in life in spite of ourselves. It may be that one can befool some people for all time; it may be possible that one can befool all people for some time; it may also happen that one may befool all people all the time; but it will never be possible to befool one's own self even once! Coming to their senses, as it were, sensible people have uttered a word of caution ages ago: All that glitters is not gold. Had we had the patience and wisdom to care for their warning, today the world would have been a better and safer place to live in.

However, we will fail to cover the whole of creation and save it from its inevitable degeneration and destruction, in whatever way we may labour. If we are sad, we cannot hide our sadness, for it would percolate even through our conspicuous dress. Deceitfulness cannot be kept a secret for long. At this moment of crisis, let us listen to the saving words of the Upanishads. The Isha Upanishad in the very first verse posits a protective cover for the whole creation including the clever human race. Removal of cover is necessary when we want to put a thing to use, and this is called discovering. The Upanishad has preached a contrary technique to use a treasure. It stresses on putting one single cover on everything, even though it is already covered with our ignorance about it. In this way, it does not oppose covering, rather it recommends a cover of a unique type. This covering is, in reality, discovering.

Commenting on the word vasyam Acharya Shankara says that it means 'should be covered'; everything should be covered by the Lord. Swamiji calls it spiritualizing the matter. (Shankara says:) Suppose a piece of sandalwood has acquired foul smell due to its long disuse and association with water. After a good rub it gets covered with its original fragrance. How beautiful is the interpretation! The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi used to say: 'Even as one gets the fragrance of flowers by handling them, or even as one gets the smell of sandalwood by rubbing it against a stone, in the same way, one gets spiritual awakening by constantly thinking of God.'¹ It reverses one's process of thinking itself. One no longer regards oneself as a puny human being, but feels the spark of the Divine in oneself. It is nothing but discovering the glory and beauty of one's own inner self. Swamiji says, in one of his lectures, 'Teach yourselves, teach every one his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.'² When the inner beauty manifests on the surface, it is called a discovery.

He further says, 'Identify yourself with Atman, not with human limitations. Dis-identify yourself with the body, and all pain will cease. This is the secret of healing. The universe is a case of hypnotisation; de-hypnotise yourself and cease to suffer.'³ 'Body is our schoolmaster, but to commit suicide is folly, it is only killing the "schoolmaster". Another will take his place. So until we have learnt to transcend the body, we must have it, and losing one, will get another. Still we must not identify ourselves with the body, but look upon it only as an instrument to be used in reaching perfection.'⁴ As an aspirant dwells on the Atman constantly, its effulgence and bliss manifest. He/she discovers himself/herself as a roaring lion and not a bleating sheep. The scriptures discovered this holistic truth in the following terms: sarvam khalu idam brahma, all is indeed this Brahman. Sri Ramakrishna saw that even the puja vessels were permeated with consciousness.

Without the manifestation of inner beauty and goodness, there can be no goodness on the surface; it is all shop-keeping. If the aspirants remember it then they are saved from many torments. Suppose one calls me a scholar. If I accept it with an acknowledging smile, then my whole life and endeavour will be spent to save this vain 'scholarship'; I have to be careful always--that I am not proved otherwise. What a painful plight indeed. On the other hand, it would be wise to deny my scholarship the very first day, and remain free from the unwanted and avoidable misery. The manifestation of the inner beauty will automatically ensue.

However, this discovery is a spiritual awareness at two levels. At the individual level it is discovering our own spiritual nature, and at the other, it is realizing the Omni-presence of the Atman. Swamiji says, 'Tear aside the mask and find the same [God].'⁵ The individual has to transfer his or her sense of individuality from the body-mind complex to the Spirit or Atman or Kutastha (higher self, as termed by the Panchadasi), and then transform the look at the life itself. This is a discovery.

The Taittiriya Upanishad⁶ records the history of a discovery that gradually unfolds the unity of the individual with the collective. The material universe with the aspirants is one, so says the first realization: annamayam atmanam upasamkramati, the aspirant finds unity with the material universe that has been termed as atman. This is now termed as the science of matter. The next realization or discovery is: pranamayam atmanam upasamkramati, the aspirant realizes the unity of all life that has also been termed as atman. This is the field of Life Science. The next is: manomayam atmanam upasamkramati, the unity is now found at the level of the cosmic mind, the study of psychology. The discovery is followed by: vijnanamayam atmanam upasamkramati, unity of the definitive faculty of mind that surveys and analyzes the discoveries at the philosophical level. And finally comes the end of all realizations at the spiritual level when the aspirant finds a unity at all levels, the Atman and Brahman equation: anandamayam atmanam upasamkramati, the whole existence encompassing all the levels is Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It is the highest manifestation of real essence of our Being. Brahmavid apnoti param, the knower of Brahman attains the highest--Satyam jnanam anantam Brahma, Brahman is Truth, Knowledge and Infinity.⁷

Let us listen to Shankara as he takes the surface philosophy into the depth of realization: '(First) It is sought to determine the true nature of Brahman through the presentation of a definition that is capable of indicating the totally free intrinsic nature of that very Brahman which was briefly referred to as a knowable entity in the sentence, "The knower of Brahman attains the highest," but of which any distinct feature remained undetermined; (secondly) the knowledge of that Brahman having been spoken of (earlier) in an indefinite way, it is now sought to make that very Brahman, whose definition is going to be stated, realizable specifically as non- different from one's own indwelling Self; (and lastly) the idea is to demonstrate that the attainment of supreme Brahman by a knower of Brahman--which (attainment) is spoken as the result of the realization of Brahman--is really nothing but identity with the self of all, which is Brahman Itself transcending all worldly attributes.'⁸

Let us finally ask the question: What do we want, covering or discovering? We want both. A covering in the form of discovery at the personal level and a covering not to deceive others. The thought, the speech and the action should be one and the same, transforming covering itself into a form of discovery, manifesting the inner essence, to make us fulfilled, and to the delight of all.

1. Sri Sarada Devi: The Great Wonder, (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1994), p.459.
2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vols.8, (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1984), 3.193. Hereafter referred to as CW.
3. CW, 7.46.
4. CW, 8.19.
5. CW, 6.55.
6. The Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.8.5.
7. Ibid., 2.1.1.
8. Ibid.