Gita for Youth - Samkhya Yoga - The Atman

The Atman and the mystery of death

Grief and delusion are the two main causes of sorrows. Grief is the effect of a loss of a belonging and therefore its source lies in the ego - "I" and "Mine". One does not grieve for the loss of belongings of others. Delusion is hope, despair, agony, ecstacy etc. associated with the day to day life. Delusion has its source in desire. Both delusion and grief are also rooted in ignorance as desire and ego are results of ignorance (of the reality - the Self or the Supreme Being). Arjuna is deluded and is grieving for all his relatives who will die. So it is necessary to address his grief first. That is the significance of the previous statement made by Sri Krishna.

Lord Krishna then began to explain to Arjuna a very important philosophy – the philosophy of immortality, or life after death, of the Atman or the soul. He said to Arjuna, “We, me, you and these kings who have assembled for fighting  here were all there before and we will all be hereafter. There was never a time when we were not there and there will never be a time when we shall not exist“

He explained to Arjuna that as youth, maturity and old age are mere transformations of the body, so is death and knowing it wise men never grieve. The senses of pleasure and pain, heat and cold are only temporary and knowing them as temporary wise men possess great strength and fortitude to bear them. Those who are not disturbed by these ephemeral feelings of grief and pain, verily, are like Self or Atman itself which is not disturbed by these bodily sensations. Atman or Self being immortal cannot cease to exist, while the body, being a material object, will not exist permanently. The difference between body and Atman is realized by seers who can perceive the truth (of the distinction). The Atman is present everywhere (omnipresent) and it is immortal, no one can destroy it.

Krishna further told Arjuna, “This body is perishable, while the Atman that dwells inside is eternal, indestructible and immeasurable. Therefore Oh Prince, fight without any doubt as you cannot destroy the Atman, which is verily all these fighters are. Those who consider themselves as slayer and those who think that they are slain, none of them know that they are actually Atman which can neither slay nor be slain.”

He further explained that this Atman is eternal and immortal, it has neither beginning nor end, it is birthless and deathless, and therefore can never be killed even though the body which carries it perishes.

Only one who knows this Atman truly, as eternal and indestructible is capable of arriving at this knowledge, that in reality no one kills and none gets killed. As a man changes his old and worn out garment, so this Atman changes a body and adopts a new one when the need for that body is over, when that body is worn out and decayed. This Atman, the indweller, cannot be pierced by weapons, burnt by fire, worn by water or withered by wind like other physical and geographical objects. This Atman is therefore indestructible, imperishable, eternal, unchangeable, and all pervasive (infinite). Therefore by knowing this Atman one should not grieve for the departed.

Even if one (wrongfully) considers that the body, which is born again and again and dies again and again is the Atman, one should not grieve as it is the universal law that if one is born, one must die.

Before birth we do not perceive this Atman and after death we do not perceive it. Only in between birth and death it is perceived through the body and therefore knowing it as only temporary, one should not be sorrowful for it.

This Atman is difficult to perceive and understand, even though it is wonderful to behold it, to speak about it and to hear about it. But know this for certain that this indweller Atman is indestructible in all beings and therefore one should not grieve.

Thus in this beautiful teaching, the Lord explains how the term “death” means nothing extraordinary to the wise. Everybody is an Atman, the eternal, birthless and deathless entity and therefore nobody gets truly killed or can be killed and therefore there is nothing to grieve for. However this knowledge is only for a realized soul, who can never kill. An ordinary mortal cannot comprehend Atman and hence should not justify his murderous intentions with the grandest realization as stated in Gita. Even if a realized soul kills, he does it for the benefit of the whole world and humanity and never for any selfish purpose.

The question that comes is how can there be so many Atmans, which are all infinite? We can only have one infinity. Advaita Vedanta comes to the rescue. Actually there is one infinite Atman which is apparent or manifest as many in many bodies and minds. Just as the sun reflects in many mirrors as multiple suns, but actually they are all images, so also the One Cosmic Soul reflects in many bodies and minds as many souls.

Therefore to realize Atman is to realize the grand Unity pervading everything.