Guiding Light: Chidanandarupam Shivoham

Shiva means Shubham, the ‘blessed good’ we all desire. Shiva is the spark that powers the bodies and empowers the minds of moving billions. It is said that when the Shakti is inside, it is Shiva, else it turns into Shava.

When one has realized that the ‘self’ is not name, identity, or this body, then how does one describe oneself? It becomes a tricky question. If the person compares self with some other object, then it results in ‘dwandwa’ bhava, meaning preposterously posturing against another resulting in unreliable comparison. Here, what is to be seen is what is seeing; there is no separation. And, it is no riddle. The answer here is, it is not possible to identify the ‘self’ and answer it as ‘something’. The only answer is ‘That is This’, as one of the Mahavakyas says ‘Tat Twam Asi’.

Pondering over such may be a tough mental exercise for many. The self-inquiry process attracts very few due to the less imminent material benefits, and secondly, it is demanding at the thought plane. Hence, many ordinary abstain from this quest. Even many of those who pursue it also drop out quickly. Difficulty in the thought process deters many and hardly any incentive in terms of showcasing material progress one made in one’s life makes it less pursued. Road less travelled!

Imagine a seeker who approaches the Guru/Master who is ‘THAT’ and asks the question ‘Who are you?’, externalizing the pointing. Now the Master shall be in a fix on how to answer ‘who really he is’. Here comes beautifully the art of negating. One can’t compare the ‘self’ with something that is not the ‘self’. But we can negate that the sought ‘self’ is NOT this or that or third or fourth. The negatable object/quality list can be long and can continue endlessly till we exhaust it. Assuming this process proceeds for a sufficiently long time and one drops all the options available, then what remains is that ONE. In other words, ONE is not one of the known, identified, externalized objects. Dropping all the known things like the body, organs, senses, and mentally conceived self, what remains is ONE. This is Chit+Ananda Rupam which is Shiva itself. Hence, Chidanandarupa Shivoham is the description of the true self.

Prof S Ainavolu is a Mumbai-based teacher of tradition and management. Views are personal. https://www.ainavolu.in/blog