CONCEPT OF “SELF” IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

Almost every thinker has tried to define the ultimate goal of human life. Some people hold that the most developed state of mental ability is the sign of realization. Yet according to the others if one inculcates the best of human behavior while living in a specific social set up, that is the realized state of human self. The thinkers with spiritual inclination are of the view that when the human self comes back to its original primordial form that is the real state of the self. This is called in other words: self-realization. Ramana Maharshi transmitted realization to his disciples through the philosophy of Self Knowledge, or Brahma-vidya. Unlike Ramakrishnna’s devotional or Aurobindo’s intellectual expression, Ramana Maharshi spoke exclusively of the quintessential Self. If any seeker approached him for teachings, Ramana would ask him or her to inquire, “Who am I?” This was the method he had applied to his own mind until he attained the realization of the infinite, immortal “I”.  The Upanishads repeats one of its famous themes: Knower of Brahman attains the highest. This is because One absolute Brahman is the only constant. But what does one get by knowing Brahman, and there by becoming the highest? The text says that when identifies oneself with the Highest, one rises high above the lower desires of the senses and the mind. But how can a man identify himself with Brahma? Is there anything common between the two, to facilitate such identification? ‘Yes, there is’ says the Upanishad. It is Self within. This Self Atman is the same as Brahman.