The Truth is that there are no real individuals. The individuality that I experience is an illusion. In reality, I am Pure Conscious Existence. I am a mere Witness to every experience. Everything else is Nature. This includes the world and the living beings in it, including this, so called “my” own body, mind, intellect, memory, emotions, free will, paapa, punya, samskara, etc. Nature interacts with Nature following its own laws. I am neither the influencer of any action nor I am affected by anything that happens. Everything happens spontaneously. Just as dreams exist in the mind, the Universe exists in Consciousness. Everything has come from Me. Everything exists in Me. Everything will subside back in Me. I give Existence to the world. I am not affected by this world. I am just an unconcerned, unaffected, neutral Witness.
By identifying himself with the illusory individuality, a person thinks that he is doing things, he is responsible for things, he is experiencing things, he wants things, he enjoys, he suffers, etc. This identification is very strong. He cannot understand and accept the truth easily. So, the spiritual traditions have come up with various graded approaches to the truth. First, they accept that he is an individual, he does things, he is responsible for his actions, he enjoys, he suffers, etc. The objective now is to slowly make him loosen his grip. This is done by telling him that he will get what he deserves. So he need not run after things. If he has good intentions and does good actions, things will come to him automatically. By this, his attachment to grabbing things loosens. The focus is shifted from getting affected by things to doing things. His dependence on objects for security is replaced by dependence on past good actions. This is called Karma Yoga. When the grip is loosened to an extent, he is taken to meditation, puja, japa, chanting, etc. By this, his dependence on the world for pleasure reduces. He finds that he can get all the pleasure that he is seeking from within. This is called Dhyana Yoga or Upasana Yoga. When he has turned his mind’s gaze within sufficiently, he will get detachment from the body and mind. He will find that he is not the body or mind. His seeking for security and pleasure will reduce almost to nil. The mind will calm down and he will find that individuality is an illusion. This is called Jnana Yoga.
This process becomes easier by involving God. God is the Universal Being who identifies Himself with the whole Universe. God is Omnipresent and Omniscient – Everything that exists is a part of God only. He resides in the heart of all living beings. He knows everything past, present and future. He knows the innermost thoughts and feelings of all living beings. God is Omnipotent – Everything happens by His will. He is the giver of the fruits of all actions. He is fair and just. God is Compassionate – He is the absolute well-wisher of all living beings. He answers the sincere prayers of everyone. By accepting God, the devotee gives up all anxiety about the future by putting faith in God’s justice. Everything that has happened in life was by God’s will for my own ultimate good. Everything that will happen also will happen by God’s will for my own ultimate good. I don’t know why things happened as they did. I don’t know what will happen. But I trust God that everything was, is and will be for my own good only. I am a child of God. God loves me. God takes care of me every moment. To develop a personal relationship with God, the devotee reads the stories of saints, devotees, etc., sings praises of God, chants his favourite name of God, worships his favourite form of God, prays to God and meditates on God. By this, his grip on the world and his individuality loosens, and finally he surrenders himself completely into God, giving up his individuality completely. At every stage of Karma, Upasana and Jnana Yoga, devotion (Bhakti) to God manifests in an appropriate form.
This is the usual path for most of the people. Making sudden jumps and trying to follow something that is not in alignment to the current stage of development can harm a person than helping him. That is why Gita gives the truth that individuality is an illusion in verses 3.27,28, and also gives a warning in verses 3.26,29 that people’s belief in individuality should not be disturbed. People should be asked to follow the path and let the individuality drop off naturally.
The whole process is to shift from the limited “Doing” and “Experiencing” identity to the unlimited “Being” identity. The Mundaka Upanishad explains this through an analogy. Here is Swami Vivekananda’s translation of the words of the Upanishad. “The whole of the Vedanta Philosophy is in this story: Two birds of golden plumage sat on the same tree. The one above, serene, majestic, immersed in his own glory; the one below restless and eating the fruits of the tree, now sweet, now bitter. Once he ate an exceptionally bitter fruit, then he paused and looked up at the majestic bird above; but he soon forgot about the other bird and went on eating the fruits of the tree as before. Again he ate a bitter fruit, and this time he hopped up a few boughs nearer to the bird at the top. This happened many times until at last the lower bird came to the place of the upper bird and lost himself. He found all at once that there had never been two birds, but that he was all the time that upper bird, serene, majestic, and immersed in his own glory.”
The Guru comes down to the level of the disciple and leads him to the Truth. Suppose there is a rope lying in a poorly lit place. The disciple mistakes it for a snake and gets very agitated. He is jumping in fear. If the Guru tells him that it is a rope, the disciple will not be able to understand or accept it. So, the Guru brings two sticks. He gives one to the disciple and both of them start beating the “snake”. After sufficiently beating it, the disciple is convinced that the “snake” is dead or at least mortally hurt. The disciple is no longer afraid. His mind is calm now. Then the Guru asks the disciple to lift the “snake” with the stick and take to a well-lit place to see if it is still alive. When the disciple brings it to the light, he finds that it is just a rope. Though the Guru knew that it was a rope right from the beginning, out of compassion for the disciple, knowing that the disciple was not in the right frame of mind to listen, he came down to the level of the disciple, gave a stick to the disciple and even he also joined in the beating. This is the compassion of the Guru.
Glory to the Guru !!!