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Upadesa Sara

Sloka 26

Vision of Self

 Our understanding of a ‘vision’ is generally with the duality of the seer of the vision and the object seen in the vision. The true meaning of the vision of the Self and vision of the Lord is explained thus:

ātma-samsthitih svātma-daršanam,
ātma-nirdvayād-ātma-nisthatā.

ātma-samsthitih – abidance in the Self (is); svātma-daršanam – vision of the Self; ātma-nirdvayād – (since) the Self is non-dual; ātma-nisthatā – firm abidance in the Self

Since the Self is non-dual, the abidance in the Self alone is the ‘vision of the Self’ and that alone is known as firm abidance in the Self

 The Seer or the Witness of the object is the Self. The seen, the object, is the not-Self. The Seer is one, the seen may be many. The Seer – the subject cannot become the seen – the object. Generally, we feel that a vision is not possible without the duality of the Seer and the seen. But in Vedanta, the word ‘vision’ has a technical connotation. Here, ‘vision’ means knowledge free from the duality of the Seer and the seen.

The vision of the Self is the knowledge that takes root as a direct experience that ‘I am of the nature of pure Existence­ Consciousness’. This is known as firm abidance in the Self. When the limited ‘I’ -notion is renounced, one ‘realizes’ the Self and gets established in it. A wealthy man in his dream imagines himself to be a beggar and consequently goes through all the pains and trials of poverty. When he wakes up, the dream beggar and his miserable dream world along with the imagined sorrows disappear. The waker realizes, ‘I am not the beggar but a wealthy man’. Having once realized, he gets firmly established in his true status and revels therein.

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