Ātma-bodha Text 44–Like a Lost Ornament
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2024-04-06

"Ātman is the ever-present reality, yet it is not realized because of ignorance. Ātman is realized on the destruction of ignorance, just as a missing ornament on one's neck is found when it is pointed out."

Namaste 🙏  So, just like Brahman is present everywhere, omnipresent; Brahman, the Self, Ātman—these are all synonyms for the same thing, which is the ground of being, that ocean or reservoir of existence, consciousness and bliss that actually is everything.

I saw this back in 1984, and this was a blessing, a great blessing that led to so many other things. But primarily, it was a total validation of the knowledge given in the scriptures.

Why don't we perceive Brahman? Well, why don't we perceive the air, you know, or space, even better? We don't perceive space because of ignorance. But then when we go to school and we get taught three-dimensional geometry, solid geometry, oh, we start to think about space. And then space becomes a medium, it becomes a platform, it becomes a ground, a place for things to exist. But the existence itself is not due to space, it's due to Brahman.