What is immortality?
Knowing that “Truth” itself is "Immortality"! Freedom from all fears is "Immortality"! Fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of insecurity, fear of pain and sorrow, fear of losing a near one, fear of unknown, beyond these fears lies "immortality".
Why do we love our spouse, parents or children?
We love our spouse, parents and our children not because we love them rather because we love ourselves. We love our "Self" or "Aatman"! The “Self” or “Aatman” is everything! Everything springs from the “Self”, it dissolves in It and remains imbued with It during continuance, for it cannot be perceived apart from the “Self”. Therefore everything is “Self”!
Just as a lump of salt when dissolve completely in water and cannot be taken out of it again, but the salt makes every drop of that water salty, similarly, does the individual "Self or Aatman" dissolves into the limitless “Being” or "Brahman" and cannot be separated from it.
Although that “Being” itself carries in it the essence of every individual "Self".
After death, there is no body and once the body is no more, the "Self" or "Aatman" dissolves into "Brahman" and there is nothing to perceive!
The means of immortality is the knowledge of the “Aatman”, with the renunciation of everything as part of it. When “That” is known, whole universe is known. It is dearer than everything else, hence it must be realised when it is heard from a spiritual teacher or guru and reflected through reasoning or logical contemplation.
Our bodies are a powerhouse of energy, which helps us to sustain throughout our lifetime. When our body dies, this energy is released and becomes a part of the energy that sustains the world. This energy helps plants to grow, animals to reproduce, earth and other planets stay in their individual orbits, bring atoms together to make molecules and everything and anything else in this universe. It is the same vibrant energy in all organisms and celestial bodies although it is so fabulously diverse array of bodies, shapes and forms. That cosmic energy, has been around since before the earth existed, is the reason the world exists and will be there well after the universe is gone. So realise that “You” are the cosmic energy, it stands to reason that "You" will be around forever. This is immortality, at least feels like immortality.
Let's find out in today's story on Yagnavalkya and Maitreyi.
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Source content collected from various books on Upanishads such as “Messages of the Upanishads” by Swami Ranganathanada,
“The Brihdaaaranyaka Upanishad” by Swami Madhavananda, “Eight Upanishads” from Advaita Ashrama, Upanishads.org, “Vedas and Upanishads for Children” by Roopa Pai and several other write-ups and thoughts on Upanishads.
Background Music is sourced from various royalty-free music sources, Apple Loops and Internet Archives with a Non-Commercial 4.0 International license. Aum Shantih chants are from KZfaq - source - Gaiea Sanskrit.
The Concept, Script, Narration and Audio Design: Arghya Goswami
Co-narrated by : Jiniya Goswami