HPOC

 A

Bullet Gist – The Nature of the Self (Ātman)

• Question: What is the Self? (Ātmaa tarhi kah?)

• Answer: The Self is Sat-Chit-Ananda – the nature of Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda).

• These three words capture the essential and natural state of the Self at all times.

• They address the fundamental Vedantic question: “Who then is the Self or Ātman?”

• At this stage, the seeker has been stripped of identification with the ego and the non-Self.

  • One feels a sense of desperation: “If not the ego, then who am I?”

• Vedanta guides the seeker to realize that the true Self is beyond the ego, and the repeated emphasis on Satchidananda points to the eternal, blissful, conscious existence of the Self.

• The text prepares the seeker gradually, so that one is ready to receive the direct knowledge of one’s own Swarupa (true nature).