Monday, October 28, 2013

Healing towards the path to Atman

Atma is a colloquial rendering of Atman in this author's own native tongue. Atman refers to the undivided True Self or Higher Self that which is the observer of all things manifest. The word Atma also refers to the concept of Soul. In this writing, the Self and Soul are not separate or distinct. Without the Atman, the body is simply an inert amalgam of slowly-decaying cells.

The Self which is free from sin, free from old age, from death and from grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it is which we must try to understand. He who has searched out that Self and understands it, obtains all worlds and all desires. -Khandogya Upanishad

Truly the Atman requires no healing. It is our body mind complex that requires the healing so that the veils fall away to reveal this higher Self. The mind, over a lifetime, gathers a huge collection of thoughts, impressions and experiences that are stored as memory in the physical complex of the body. It is this heavy veil and filter that renders and adds to our belief systems, our value judgements and definitions in life as we experience it.
Over a period of time, as the physical complex continues on its ongoing decay process, the accumulated collection of unnecessary thoughts, impressions and belief systems have to give way. These then tend to manifest as lack of ease within the physical complex. Seemingly even those of us in the best of health (whatever that may be) experience some acute lack of ease or illness from time to time.
In the Atmic world the phsycial body complex has no place. In order for the Atman to cleanse itself of these impressions from lifetimes, it requires a body-mind complex to do so.
Every Atman manifests in multiple lifetimes in physical manifestations one after another until it reaches its natural cycle of dissolution. Herein lies the point when the Atman liberates itself from the cycle of re-births. Having thus become pure this Atman need not manifest a phsycial mind-body complex ever again!
In the world of diamond or mineral ore mining-there is special machinery, mining equipment, infrastructre and complex extraction , cleaning and related chemical processes to mine the precious daimond or mineral and remove associated impurities. The gem or mineral continued to exist in its pure state at its core while being sorrounded by the ore, rock and other impurities covering it up. It was not possible to clean itself of its impurities. It is not until after the extraction, subsequent chemical cleaning processes and polishing, that a precious diamond or valuable mineral begins to show its infinite possibilities and uses. Until then, its preciousness stays hidden from view even to itself.
Similarly every Atman requires a body to cleanse itself of the impure thoughts within before it can shine brilliantly in its real nature. Without the body /mind cleansing/healing processes that sorround the Atman, this Higher pure consciousness Self would never have a chance to glowbrilliantly and manifest its real nature. Meditation practices help with this cleansing process.

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