You Are It!

“You don't 'have' a life, you are life. The One Life, the one consciousness that pervades the entire universe.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

In our last blog, we discussed the Buddhist principle of Anahata or “no-self.” The basic idea is that that the self is not real, rather it’s an illusion created by the thinking mind. Buddhists believe that behind the illusory veil of the physical world there lies emptiness or nothingness. Hindus also believe in an infinite void which underlies all things, however in the Hindu religion the void is not empty, it is filled with Divine light.

Instead of denying the existence of the self, Hindus believe that Brahman, or the Higher Self, is the true nature of the universe. Similar to what we might call “God,” Brahman is believed to be the ultimate, unchanging reality that encompasses the entire universe. Beyond time and space, Brahman is the source of all that exists, the eternal consciousness that underlies all of creation.

In addition to the Universal Self, the Hindu religion also recognizes the personal soul or self. Known as the Atman, it is the invisible essence that animates all living things. It is the inner light that brings a sparkle to your eyes when you are awake- the conscious presence and eternal witness that resides within us all.
The important thing to understand about the Atman is that it is not separate from Brahman. In fact, Hindu philosophy teaches that there is fundamentally no difference between Atman and Brahman- that the Atman is essentially a reflection of Brahman within each person. In other words, your innermost self is not separate from the Universal Self, it’s an expression of it.

This understanding is explained with the Sanskrit phrase "Tat Tvam Asi", meaning "Thou art That." In other words, you are it! You are the ultimate reality, experiencing life as a human being for a little while. Realizing the unity between Atman and Brahman means going beyond the illusion of separation and experiencing the oneness of all existence. As Ekhart Tolle once said, “God is not a personality outside of you. What God is, is inextricably part of what you are. God is the dimension of depth within you.”