That you, You Are!

“One of the great statements called mahavakyas in Sanskrit that has reverberated down the centuries for thousands of years is tat tvam asi. There is a precision about this formula, as I call it, which is not philosophy nor is it metaphysics.
“Tat literally means ‘That’ – the infinite, immortal, immutable spirit that is at the core of human consciousness. It’s called by a precise scientific name, atman, the Self, which is closer to me than this body, which, as the Sufis say, is nearer to me than my jugular vein, which is dearer to me than my very life. Tat is the supreme reality from which words turn back frightened, which thoughts cannot reach.
“The second word is tvam, ‘you.’ It is addressed to everyone without exception.
“And the third word, asi, means ‘you are.’ Whether you believe it or not, it does not matter. Whether you accept it or not, it does not matter. That is what you are.”

~Eknath Easwaran

This truth as expressed in Sanskrit, which is much more specific and descriptive than our contemporary language in matters of the Spirit, is profound to me.

What Sri Easwaran is describing is the Essential Self, which is juxtaposed to the False Self, which is constructed by our own mechanical, intellectual minds over many years as we grow from being an toddler to an adult.

This truth(that you, you are) was expressed in ancient India over a thousand years BCE. Since I am a follower of the Christ as the supreme Master teacher, I interpret this truth through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. I have begun to see how this eternal nature, this true self within--can become realized in the temporal, day to day, breathing, walking, thinking, interacting life we lead...by walking "in yoke" with Jesus.

There is a GPS--a God Positioning System, as Cynthia Bourgeault so well describes --in each of us. Our true, basic orientation as was manifested by Adam, and then by Christ--in true perfection, is towards unity and oneness with The Father, The Source, The Eternal, The Almighty. What Jesus exemplified is a practice that continually seeks to learn how to live each day, each moment, from the eternal source within...the atman, or the Soul. This essence sees the unity of all things, and lives, breathes, thinks, and acts from that position.

Besides being a devotee of the teachings of Easwaran, in meditation and wisdom, I am seeking to develop as a practitioner of The Work, or the Fourth Way, as described by G.I. Gurdjieff and espoused and commented upon by Maurice Nicoll, M.D., and Kabir Helminski, the American Sufi master. The Essence or the soul-filter within is known as 'The Work'. The Work is actually what Jesus was seeking to teach when He stated "The Kingdom of God is within you"(Luke 17:21-KJV)...and I believe that He meant that- both literally and figuratively. He was speaking of the 'you' in the plural and "you" in the individual. It is in this individual "you" that I come back to the atman, and the Sanskrit statement: "tat tvam asi".

What we really are, and the posture/or the filter from which we should live, move and have our being, is the Soul that God, who is the Source- placed within us when we were conceived. That you is what you are.

As we learn to exist in this fallen world, the false constructed self, which is more motivated by the binary, 'either/or','us vs. them', 'mine vs. yours', 'I am right, you are wrong' separation based operating system, takes us over and seeks to direct our selfish nature. This has happened to all of us. It is human nature. As my mystic friend Lisa Bonner stated so beautifully--we are all trapped and captive by this separation nature... it is the way of fallen-ness, or sin. Sin is, or equals separation.

Christ calls us out of the separation based way of living...to His narrow way of living abundantly, in oneness with the Source of all Life. In unity with all God's created nature and all his creatures.

It turns out that Christ was reiterating a truth that had been known in other cultures for centuries. I am so thankful that He not only taught it, but lived it, and gave Himself by dying for our very souls' transformation. He has led us to unity and wholeness.

Thanks be to God for this gospel. May we teach its unity and its eternal truth, not the ways and theologies of separation. ( It seems to me that the Western church has erred greatly by teaching belief systems that separate, not unify--but that is a topic that could be visited at another time.)

This way is a narrow path, but it is the way to life eternal.