Awareness of the self is the primary characteristic of every living being.  Non-living objects do not have this awareness. This awareness of the Self is the springboard to all evolution. 

There is another aspect within us that is hidden.  This is the subject of all spiritual learning.  This is the immortal, unchanging, non-destructible aspect that does not undergo birth and death and does not mutate or degrade. 

The identify of the self within is that which is permanant, unchanging, without birth and death.

Immortality is only one aspect of the eternal tranquility that the real identity within us represents.

Sri Krishna clealy says in the BHAGAVATH GITA that the self within each of us is HIMself. 

However, we are ignorant of this aspect of us.  All that we see are our own physical limitations.  We are mortally afraid of our transient existence. We see disease, poverty, crime and innumerable miseries with which we have to cope each day of our existence.

This permenance within us is also known as the ATMA.  The entire journey of life and the many births and deaths that we experience and will experience is strucured to take us to this final destination. 

The attainment of the ATMA is known as MOKSHAM or liberation from the delusional mortal exitence that is so full of suffering.

The ATMA is hidden deep within us.  The Paramathma says repeatedly that it is only us, by our own self effort that can attain this permenant and eternally tranquil state of existence.  

His entire conversation with Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra is only for the purpose of providing guidance on how to attain this state of permenance and to never return to this miserable world that is so full of suffering.

We are born with physical endowments such as the body, mind, intellect, and senses. Our entire life is spent in catering to the needs of the body and the senses.......and the intruments used to cause these needs...desire, longing, sense pleasures etc.  Although we are drawn by desire to experience the sense pleasures, we soon realize that these pleasures are transient and lead to a lot of misery later.  This cycle of pleasure and pain is very difficult to break out from. 

The intellect is the instrument through which the knowledge gained from the experience of the mind through the senses is channelized to transform our attitude and orientation to this world, in order to overcome the pulls of desire.  This is a constant ongoing battle within us. This is depicted as the battlke of KURUKSHETRA in the Bhagavath Gita. 

Who within us undergoes this transformation and evolution? Is it the Mind, is it the intellect, is it the senses, is it the body?  Sri Krishna clearly tells Arjuna, that the physical body, mind, intellect and senses are only temporary abodes within which the Atma resides. The ATMA is the state of existence which is permenant, eternally tranquil and unchanging.  So our consciousness which is born in a state of ignorance, change, doubt slowly undergoes a change to discard all dependancies and attain a state of complete liberation from bondage. 

The process begins by turning the intellect to within the self and using the knowledge gained, the intellect gains control of the mind and senses to enable it to discard all attachments to this world.

Self Realization is the path that Sri Krishna recmmends that we follow by completely surrendering to Him. With Moksham as the primary objective of our life, we set out on the path of self realization to attain that objective.

We are born in ignorance of our own self.  The first couple of decades are spent in the world of the senses. We believe what ever we perceive through the senses as the TRUTH.  We do not accept ourselves as being permenant becuase we see people around us dying all the time due to old age, disease, accidents etc. and we realize that one day it will be time for us to depart from this world.

This perception of the self as being impermenant gives rise to despair and then to complete delusion.

The conviction that we can attain a state of permenance and the strength to embark on that journey do not come without Bhakthi in the teachings of the Paramathma.  This is because the teachings essentially are about factors that are beyond the senses.  They are about our mental growth, that requires great effort in removing and dropping delusions that cloud the mind.

The world presents many temptations that draw the mind into a vortex of unending events, rewards and punishments.  If the mind gets sucked into this vortex, there may be no escape. Temptation is perhaps one of the most powerful forces and it takes a lot of effort to extricate the mind from succumbing to them.   So we sink into the experiencing of sensual pleasures as a means of escape from what we think is inevitable - death and imperishment. 

We will explore these aspects in more detail in the following pages.