The Self – expresses itself in many fields, including philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and sociology. It refers to an individual's essence, body, mind, and soul. According to Rene Descartes, the idea of the Self is “I think therefore I am,” while Spiritualism states, “I am, therefore I think.” The subjective self is the qualitative form of a soul that watches, witnesses, and spontaneously makes the mind perform from its thoughts. The objective self is in the quantitative form of body and mind to consciously and subconsciously feel, think, and act in the duality of this or that. Let's explore further this contradictory mystery called the Self.
We often hear that we are spiritual beings going through human experiences from our bodies and minds. It means we connect and share with some higher power that has created us – “That art Thou” – a self-concept beyond your sense of identity in body, mind, and soul, a universal spirit apart from your body and cognitive mind mainly because you call it yours. Only after comprehending the same do you enter into metaphysical knowing where the bigger universal ‘Self' as the spirit is contained within, the smaller ‘self' as the individualized soul becomes known to us, which we refer to as our prime spiritual awareness.
Your social, physical, and psychological neural mechanism is then nothing but an image imagined by yourself out of thoughts born out of desires, feelings, and emotions—even though such a thing belongs exclusively to you, still, it cannot be you. You are more than all these images and identities associated with those illusory selves or ever-changing bodies/minds.
The philosophical self – posits personal identity experientially through consciousness, whereas the psychological Self perceives a persona (false mask in Greek) via self-concept and self-esteem. On the other hand, neurological concepts arise from brain activity, while sociological ones come from social interactions and how others see us.
However, spiritually, there is no presence of any permanent self. Spiritualism in pre-historic Vedic scriptures elucidates all that forever exists is waves of absolute metaphysical Brahm (energy) in unity and continuity. It is eternal and infinite in our universe's changeless, spaceless, and timeless nothingness; the subject of all that exists, where matter and consciousness cyclically manifest to appear to disappear, creating, destroying, and recreating an illusionary expression called “Maya.
Hence, the selfless spirit dismisses all ideas advanced by other faculties concerning cognition and reasoning since any body, mind, and soul can only exist temporarily in a cycle of birth and death. The false ego-self versus the transpersonal universal spirit settled in the superconscious section of the mind, where no thoughts prevail; we call that the individual soul in pure consciousness. The human soul is a notch less than the eternal universal spirit. An individualized soul within the mind displays its non-dual power and eventually dissolves into the universal absolute energy in the event of death. The soul is midway between the ego-mind and the impersonal spirit,
On the other hand, the universal spirit is responsible for creating that being-ness or awareness in the soul existing in pure consciousness to check and guide the human mind for the sustenance of any individual to experience dualities to comprehend what life is all about. Dualities permit the mind to consciously choose, from which choice leads to selfishness and conflicts. It means consciousness overall depends upon the spirit, for the mind can become conscious only after it becomes aware of being mindful of anything.
Therefore, the divine cosmic spirit within individual souls sets minds aglow first to be intuitively aware, then fully conscious, followed by the subconscious from the memory to engage in the play we call life.
So before knowing who we are, allow me to tell you what you're not. The ancient Upanishads deny all personalities regarding anything related to sensory minds, saying ‘Neti, neti, neti”, neither this nor that, refusing every finite attribute.
Only after you have waded through all these dualities based on which mind operates and attaches – this and that – happiness/ sadness, good/evil, divine/ devil, etc. You unpeel every layer, like in the case of an onion, until nothing is left. From all the positives and negatives, finally, you reach what Upanishads call Brahman – the ultimate reality of the universe, indicating the Sanskrit meaning of “Brah- to grow” or expand, which is identical to the meaning of energy in Quantum Physics where it means the ability to grow and develop.
Scientifically, as well as in Vedic Spiritualism (Shanti Mantra), energy is indivisible and is neither created nor destroyed. It has many abilities with its interchangeable subset forms ranging from nuclear and electrical to psychic, physical, hydro, etc.
According to Vedas, humans possess the highest potentiality of the non-dual supreme absolute power, which is beyond all other interchangeable abilities of energy – Para Brahman- from which we can observe all subset forms in matter and consciousness. It lies apart from anything that human beings can cognitively perceive: the intuitive, telepathic, and spontaneous grasping of pristine knowledge, which takes place in our brain; such spiritual awareness is what we call “That art Thou.”
Para Brahman is an Upanishad phrase used in Vedic science to refer to God, the supreme power or ultimate reality: Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. It also designates Para Brahman (the supreme ability of energy) as Par Atma (beyond soul) and Parmeshwar (beyond human gods). It makes all living creatures aware and conscious, of which humans have the highest intensity of spiritually aware energy prescribed by its suffix of -ness.
The Supreme Self, known as Para Brahman – the attribute-less ultimate reality from which consciousness arises should not be understood through human intellect since it transcends every concept language can give rise to. Any scientific statement about what it might be will always fall short because it goes beyond all concepts and categories. By saying “Neti neti,” the Upanishad indicates that the intensity of Brahman/ Spiritual Awareness in humans goes beyond any description of attributes or forms compared to any other. It means that all other living creatures have far less of the same.
The process helps clear away false identifications and misconceptions. People often confuse their identity with body, mind, emotions, or various roles played; hence, “neti, neti” systematically denies these identifications, guiding seekers toward understanding the authentic spirit outside those limited aspects.
Sometimes, indirect methods work best when trying to understand something that cannot directly describe itself. The Upanishads help students get closer to a direct, intuitive realization of what the spirit indeed is by saying what the small self in body and mind isn't. This prophetic approach (defined by negation) points toward experiential understanding rather than intellectual one.
The phrase suggests intense inward movement where the seeker pushes the mind deeper into pure non-dual consciousness until realizing a selfless spirit in pure bliss, negating outer layers of identity in attachments. It constantly encourages exploration at progressively profound levels within oneself
Therefore, “Neti, Neti” is a deep and tactical approach to grasping the Ultimate Reality by realizing that from Brahman's point of view, there is no existence of any permanent self, apart from the eternal presence of the only non-dual absolute spiritual waves of infinite energy in unity and continuity in its nothingness. It goes beyond allusions to the plurality caused by Maya's deceptive nature for the mind to realize liberation from all attachments (Moksha) and comprehend what is real. “Hari Om Tat Sat” – declaring that the manifested duality and the unmanifested non-dual intrinsically are of the same substratum in the ultimate truth.
It is essential to understand the self because Spiritualism revolves around self-exploration, discovery, knowledge, and self-realization. Advait (not two) Vedanta (end of knowledge) denotes, once you know, that the meaning behind all that exists is Brahman (energy), representing ultimately nothing but dark energy. It segregates the Self from the physical, mental, subjective, and objective self. In short, it means being aware of oneself from one's reflective consciousness concerning one's body and mind and its interconnectedness with the world and the universe.
Additionally, numerous spiritual practices dedicate us to liberating ourselves from our history's unfavorable memories, beliefs, and prejudices. Although we cannot fully erase our memories, we can control whether they influence our behavior. Mental cleansing of that excess baggage stored in our memory includes seeing every moment as it is.
Further, practices like mantra, jaap, meditation, prayers, and pranayama assist us in linking with our essences. Journaling helps us to vent pent-up emotions and face reality while looking for a silver lining in every situation. By fully engaging in whatever we do and accepting what comes out of them, whether positive or negative, we become lighter individuals who can continue journeying on this life path, gracefully balancing the material with the spiritual.
Namaste – (the divine in me honors the divine in you).
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