Question and answer 16

How is it that the ego, the individual soul, the Self, and Brahman all turn out to be, at bottom, identical?

Example | What it shows

(1) an iron ball | the ego.

(2) a heated iron ball | the individual soul, which appears fused with the nature of the Self.

(3) the fire in the heated iron ball | the light of consciousness in the soul, shining in every body, that is, the unchanging (kūṭastha) Brahman.

(4) the one flame of fire | the one all-pervading Brahman.

The example shown above makes plain the identity of the ego, the individual soul, the witness and the witness of all.

In a goldsmith's ball of wax, specks of countless metals are held, and yet it is seen as one ball of wax. In the same way, in deep sleep the gross and subtle bodies of all living beings are held in the one darkness of ignorance, that is, the collective māyā, and are dissolved in the Self and become one; so everywhere people see one and the same darkness. Out of this darkness of deep sleep the subtle body, that is, the ego, comes forth, and out of that the gross body. The moment the ego comes forth, it appears fused with the nature of the Self, like the heated iron ball. Thus, apart from the individual soul, who is the mind, the ego-shaped one, joined in identity with the light of consciousness, there is no Self that witnesses the soul; and apart from that Self there is no Brahman that witnesses all. However the blacksmith beats the heated iron ball and changes its shape, the fire in it is not moved in the least by any of it. In the same way, however much the individual soul toils round and round in its dealings and goes through pleasure and pain, the light of the Self within it is not moved in the least by any of it, and shines in the Heart as Brahman itself: all-pervading like space, knowledge only, and one.

How does identity come about among these — the ego, the individual soul, the Self, and Brahman?

Example / Application — (1) an iron ball / the ego. (2) a heated iron ball / the individual soul, which appears superimposed together with the Self's own nature. (3) the fire that is in the heated iron ball / the light of consciousness in the soul that shines in every body, that is, the unchanging (kūṭastha) Brahman. (4) the single flame of fire [common to every heated ball] / the one all-pervading Brahman. — By the example shown above, the identity of the ego, the individual soul, the witness, and the universal witness becomes clear.

Just as, in a lump of wax made by a goldsmith, countless atoms belonging to many different metals are contained and yet the whole is seen as a single mass of wax, so too, in deep sleep, the gross and subtle bodies of all living beings are contained within the one darkness called ignorance — that is, the collective māyā — and, dissolved and merged in the Self, appear as one; that is why everywhere the same single darkness is seen. From this darkness of deep sleep, the subtle body, that is, the ego, comes into being, and from that the gross body comes into being. At the very moment the ego comes into being, it appears, like the heated iron ball, superimposed together with the Self's own nature. In this way, apart from the individual soul, who is the mind, of the ego's form, joined in identity with the light of consciousness, there is no Self that is the witness of the soul; and apart from the Self, there is no Brahman that is the witness of all. Just as, however much a heated iron ball is struck and hammered by the blacksmith and made to change shape, the fire within it undergoes not the slightest disturbance from that — so too, however much the individual soul toils round and round in its affairs and experiences pleasures and pains, the light of the Self within it, undisturbed in the least by any of that, goes on shining in the Heart, all-pervading like space, sheer knowledge, one alone — nothing but the very nature of Brahman.