" Aham Brahmasmi " (I'm the Universe / God)... The deep meaning

"Aham Brahmasmi" - I am Brahman / Universe / God

Many Vedas and Upanishads have said this over and over again. It seems like a simple line but a thinker would find the catch in this simple phrase.

Hindu scriptures say that there is only Brahman and nothing else. The Universe is the only and everything. The catch here is that when we hear this quote - "Aham Brahmasmi", there is a speaker ("I") and the object ("Universe"). The speaker is saying that "It" is the universe. 

But since there is nothing else but the universe, it means that the universe itself must be saying this to itself. It is the speaker, the listener, the object and the subject itself. Something like when we tell ourselves something, we are the subject, object, speaker and listener.

The indication in this line is towards perceptions ; that instead of thinking duality (Creator & Creation), one should THINK OF SINGULARITY.

The Brahman / Universe is conscious. We are a part of this current universe in this space and time... Right Now. Are we conscious of ourselves ? Yes we are. Is my friend conscious of herself? Yes she is. Is the dog sitting over there conscious of itself? Most certainly. 
The universe, we being an active part of it right now, is always conscious, and thus it says "Aham Brahmasmi".

So whenever I'm being conscious of myself, this part of the universe bound in me is being conscious of itself. Whenever I gaze at the stars, the universe is gazing at itself. Whenever I dream, the universe is dreaming in its own. Now multiply this into so many other souls on lets say just this planet. This means a whole chunk of the universe is being conscious of itself.

Now I have started feeling that my senses - my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, memory, intelligence / brain, etc are just mere tools for the universe to experience itself. 

In other words, I notice that I had no control over the birth of my body, this set of organic tools I have been born with, including my basic senses and also my talents. I just kept discovering along the way what I'm good at and walked on that path. I discovered with time what makes me happy, and did those things. But am I controlling any of the basic things here? Yes I know I can make choices, but those are so heavily dependent on my characteristics, the ones which I never chose. For example, I can decide to quit my job to start a business, but the basic quality of being free willed is something I was born with which is why I feel happily conditioned to be making this choice. Am I what I think I am, or a lost part of a larger consciousness ?

My body, my senses, my brain is just a medium to experience and wonder, to raise questions and seek answers. But the active universe, that decided the way my body and mind would be, is only trying to see and realize itself through all these processes, which I think of as my identity. Isn't it ?

Who else does that ? 

I think, all the souls on this planet do that; i.e search for meaning. Seriously, I constantly try to find out about myself, my paths, my happiness. Sometimes I try to figure out other people also, and they do the same as well with me. We are constantly trying to know and figure out each other. Why would the consciousness of the universe (we being a part of it always) try to do that ?

Seems like the universal consciousness forms my body and mind, my eyes, ears and memory and is looking through me and wondering... What the heck an I doing here ? What am I here for ? What should I be doing in life ? What am I searching for ?

Then I look at the other and start wondering... Who the heck is that ? What does he want in life ?  Whats my connection with them ?... and so on.

Conclusion : The universe is one. All elements (those we call living and non living) are actively a part of it. In fact the totality of it is the universe itself. Our consciousness isn't just ours alone, locked in this body. It transcends our physical self, even our imaginary self.

In fact, it is the single consciousness (God / Brahman / Om) that is creating, sustaining(creating time) and destroying continuously (seen as work of the trinity). 

This consciousness forms waves and frequencies which make matter and energy possible (scientifically observed under modern science, but always a recognized phenomenon in ancient sciences). 

Its only purpose is to create these numerous frequencies (of creation) and then solving the puzzle to return back to its original state (pure consciousness). This solving of the puzzle by the universe is what we experience in our bodies and minds when we search for meaning in ourselves and others (family, friends, humans and animals alike). 

This makes us the Universe, and the universe becomes me, as a single consciousness tied in the illusion of this body and mind. Meditation, spiritual practices and study, helps us realize our true nature. It clears our minds to make us understand that the Gods to whom we pray, whose idols we make, whose images and stories we love, we ourselves are a part of the same divinity, the figures and stories might change, but the unified consciousness is the same. 

It is the same consciousness that was Krishna, it is the same that is me, it is the same that will be Kalki.

Our "Aatmas" (souls), put together, 
becomes "Paramatma" (singlemost / supreme soul).

"Aham Brahmasmi"

Hanuman - The Monkey God - Curriculum Vitae

Birth name given by parents : 
"Maruti" (meaning son of "Marut"/wind or 'of the wind')

Name given by relatives : 
"Anjaneya" (meaning son of "Anjana"- mother's name)

Name given by God's : 
"Hanuman" (Hanu meaning chin / jaw) after an incident related to an attack on the chin. (explained later on)

Species :
"Vaanar" - A species with a blend of human like intellect and ape like strength. This species was particularly created by Brahma for the specific purpose of defeating Ravan (demon lord) and associated demons in war. Vaanar (half ape-half man) as explained in ancient texts were a breed of creatures who lived for a few generations and this was planned for. This special breed had birth connections to Demi Gods, but were born of the womb of their own species. This is the reason for their amazing capabilities. Some could jump over large water bodies, some were extremely intellegent (more than humans), some had amazing martial skills, but one thing all of them had in common was super strength and courage which would be required to defeat demons.

Biological Father's name :
Kesari (An earthling Vaanar king)

Biological Mother's name :
Anjana (An earthling Vaanar queen)

Position :
Prince in search of Lord Ram to serve him rather than rule his kingdom.

Father in Heaven (DemiGod connection):
Marut / Pawan - Wind / Air God
Thus also reffered to as "Pawan-putra" (meaning Wind's son)
(Note : All earthlings have a connection to heavenly Gods, ruling elements, planets,etc)


Age :
Immortal - is still believed to show himself from time to time. Many poets and devotees have recorded accounts of their experiences. (explained later on)


Marital Status :
Brahmachari (those who practice celibacy and remain single by choice) 

Avatar / incarnation of :
Shiva / Mahadev

Experience:
Crossing an ocean by flying across it,
Lifting a mountain, flying with it, and bringing it to save Lakshman's life
Killing massive demons,
Saving captured planetary deities,
Being Ram's messenger to his wife Sita and vice versa too,
Helping countless humans, vaanars, gods, animals in small ways,
Always worshipping Lord Ram
Releasing many souls trapped in monster's bodies as a curse
Being Lord Ram's greatest devotee
Burning Lanka with tail on fire
Breaking the egos of many demons and even demigods.
Gulping the sun
... many more...



Strengths & Super Powers :
Almost everything one can dream of, no earthling has ever had so many powers.
- Can fly being son of "Marut"
- Can disguise in any form
- Can increase or decrease in size (gulped the sun as a kid thinking of it as a heavenly fruit)
- Incomparable super duper strength, (thus also the provider of strength)
- Can recognize evil, ghosts and negative spirits, demons etc hidden in various forms
- Can make his tail as long as he wants
- Can reach any realm (heaven, earth, hell, nakshatra, other lok's / realms)
- Immortality / Mortality by choice
- Many other powers; He can almost do all that Shiva can do. Only difference is that Shiva being prime consciousness only has to wish and it's done, and Hanuman, his avataar, being an earthling, has to physically gain and then use these powers.

Hanuman burning Lanka city (present day in
Sri Lanka which was taken over by demons)
with his tail which the demons set on fire
not knowing that it can grow immensely long
and Hanuman has a boon that he can't
be burnt.

So how does he gain all these amazing powers ?
These powers have been given to him by various Devas (Demi-Gods). After he had gulped the sun thinking of it as a heavenly fruit, in his kiddish innocence, the various Devas who didn't know who he really was, fought with him in desperation when this adamant boy wouldn't take the sun out. When no regular powers would work against this avatar of Shiva, Indra(the king of Devas) had to forcefully use his most powerful lightning weapon - "Bajr" to attack on the kid's chin("Hanu"), thus the name Hanuman, which made him unconscious. This annoyed Wind God as Hanuman was his son, and he in his anger started pulling out earth's air supply. When creatures started choking to death, the other God's pleaded and promised to get back the child to consciousness. When they understood that this kid was none other than Shiva incarnate, and was here for a special purpose, they decided to give the boy many special boons themselves including immortality and a tough body like "Bajr"- Indra's weapon. 
So devotees also call him Bajr-ang-bali (Bajr - body - strength)
Other than that he is:
Calm & composed, quite enlightened, very loving and caring, very helpful, among the top ranks of devotees of Ram, and he is worshiped and loved because of his devotion as well.

Weaknesses :
A curse that he would forget all his super powers when required the most unless someone reminds him. This curse was given to child Hanuman by his teacher. After his new found powers from the various Devas, he became notorious, like all kids would, and started being a nuisance in his school, troubling classmates and other teachers using his powers. So his Guru got angry and gave him this curse one day. But since his powers were necessary for the purpose he was born to complete, the Guru later calmed down and gave an antidote, which was that someone would have to remind him about his powers at that point when its needed.

Purpose of Birth :

Shiva incarnated as Hanuman to aid the process of killing of Ravan and associates, and to establish a new direction of selfless service and devotion.

More:

Hanuman is believed to be the 11th avataar of Shiva / Rudra. Since Shiva loves Vishnu and Vishnu loves Shiva incomparably, since both phenomenon cannot exist without each other, their avataars also find the same affection. So When Vishnu incarnated as Ram (Vishnu's 7th avatar), Shiva incarnated as Hanuman, who since childhood was searching for his worshipped one - Ram, and was totally devoted to him since birth. Ram on the other hand is known to be a great devotee of Shiva himself.

Ram and Hanuman's story is available everywhere, but I want to talk on the essence of Hanuman.

Devotees apply Kum Kum,
red powder to idols of Hanuman

Why is Hanuman worshipped ?
Hanuman is seen as the greatest devotee of all time. It is said, that if one has to find examples of devotion, there's no one better than the Vanar called Hanuman. Inspite of being a prince himself, his utter love for Ram led him to follow him wherever he went out of his own will, he did not marry so that he could find all the time to serve his lord. Hanuman, lovingly followed his Lord Ram's teachings and displayed examples of innocent affection many times in his stories.

Example 1 : One day when Ram's wife Sita was applying Kum Kum (a red powder) on her forehead, Hanuman asked her what was this red powder and why was she applying it. Hanuman did not know that all married women in Vedic culture apply it as a sign of marriage. Sita, instead of heavy explanation of customs, lovingly told him that she applies it because Lord Ram likes it. Thinking of that, Hanuman simply & innocently thought that he should also apply the same if his Lord Ram loves it, so he applied it to his whole body and came to show his lord of what he's done. Inspite of everyone laughing at him in his funny red skin, Ram saw the immense love in this devotee's heart, who did not once think of what people would think of him if he goes in King Ram's court like that. His love was like that of a child.

Example 2 : On one occassion, Hanuman, when asked what gift he would give Ram, he embedded his claws in his chest and tore open his skin, smiling. While others in the court were aghast at what he had done, Ram & Sita saw as if their images were being shown from inside his chest. This was another miracle by the Shiva incarnate as an earthling.

Hanuman's life story is full of rescues and saving people and demigods, teaching bad guys a lesson. His life is a heroic one, but totally without ego. Super strength combined with super calmness and loving devotion. Super powers combined with the love to serve his Lord Ram.
Ram considers him a brother, but he wishes to stay a servant of the Lord.

He refused to go with Ram and others to heaven after death. He wanted to stay on earth even when he was getting a chance to attain Moksha after death. Why? He said - Till the time people chant the name of Ram on earth, I will feel it. I will stay on earth and would like to sense all the prayer in the name of my Lord Ram. That was his love and devotion that he would not get tired of living so long, doing nothing but meditating in the name of Ram and as long as he would hear prayers of people in the name of Ram.

Hanuman is the epitome of devotion in Hinduism, the master of devotees, and his story inspires and thus is also loved by everyone. He is worshipped and invoked in rituals for strength and removing evil forces, for courage and protection of loved ones. Hanuman is the symbol of composed strength with virtue and love. Hanuman also has various forms like all other Gods and Godesses. He is worshiped as a phenomenon(the remover or evils) and also as a deity.

Panchmukhi Hanuman -
A form of the divine incarnate
of Shiva.

Read more about Hanuman's stories to knw that in Hinduism / Vedic culture, Hanuman is more than just respected. In fact, being Shiva himself, his mantra and rituals are used to ward off negative energy also.

This is the essence of Hanuman...








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Essence of Kali & Durga - The Fierce Mother Goddesses

Kali is a form of the mother Goddess - "Shakti". Shakti in sanskrit means "energy/power". She is like the nuclear reactor(with immense energy) which becomes unstable, on irking by evil forces, turning herself into a nuclear bomb. She does this when terrible situations anger her a lot, typically the demons and the bad elements which threaten creation.

The Vedic Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who are the phenomenon of creation, time period / lifespan and destruction respectively, have their abiding source of power. This power is feminine. The phenomenon cannot manifest without the power and the power is in turn guided by the phenomenon into the formation of this creation. "Aadi-Shakti"(eternal energy) is the consort of Brahma as "Saraswati"(Goddess of Knowledge), of Vishnu as "Lakshmi"(Goddess of Prosperity) and of Shiva as "Parvati"(Goddess of Strength). 

Parvati also called "Shakti" is also mostly generally referred to as the consort of Shiva, and their union - "ArdhaNareeshwara" (half male-half female form of Shiva-Shakti) is the secret of all creation.They both entwine to form the web of creation, Shiva being the pool of consciousness(the end of all forms) and Shakti being the energy which gives consciousness the medium to create. Which is why she is called Mother. The energy of creation that she is, "Shakti" flows consciously through every particle and is the life force of every being - living or dead. She is the life force of the humans, the ghosts, plants, animals, angels and demons. The whole of creation is her child. She is the nurturer and also the punisher when her child is in danger.

Many forms of Shakti in different
situations & aspects, centre one being Durga,
2 topleft corner ones are forms of  Kaali.
There are still many more forms and Avataars.

HER VARIOUS FORMS : 
Maa Durga, Maa Kaali, Annapurna, and many more.

Maa is kind, benevolent, loving and truly the ultimate mother. She cares and nurtures. In most of her forms, Shakti is in a benevolent state. But when her own creations - the demons, "Asuras", evil spirits, etc go upto the level of destroying nature, killing innocent beings, and creating havoc, she comes into the angry protective mother form. She manifests into "Durga" ("Durg" meaning fortress/ boundary/ protection). Durga is shown as all powerful, skilled in martial arts and with her sheer strength and courage she kills the devils and protects the good people. Till now she is courageous, poised and angry. This can be seen in the story of "Mahishasura" who was a demon who could disguise himself as a buffalo. He was creating havoc. He had got a boon that no man but only a woman could kill him, which he thought was impossible as women aren't as strong enough. 
In his ego he destroyed villages, settlements and entire tribes. His cruel ways were limited by Shakti who transformed into Durga and showed the demon that power and energy itself are feminine in nature. The same energy can become life giving or life taking.

When Evil does not stop at that, and demonic activity continues to anger her even more, Shakti loses it totally. She becomes Raw. She loses her poise. She becomes like the tigress who wants to protect her cubs. She transforms into Kali, the fierce one and does not even try to defeat the demons. Instead she just massacres all of them. She becomes the term - Madness and Wrath in the true sense. She loses her touch of femininity and poise, and becomes only the mad angry Mother taking revenge for her murdered babies and punishing evil. She goes around wild, breathing anger, severing heads of demons and wearing a garland of their skulls and skirt of their chopped hands. It seems like she herself has become a mad demon in nature, but only for a good cause. There are many stories of Kaali, but a famous one is the arrival of this demon called "RaktBeej"(meaning blood-seed). This demon had terrifying powers. The Angels and warriors tried to fight him, but his one drop of blood which fell on the ground would give birth to another demon like him. He could cut his own arm and sprinkle the drops of blood around to create 100's of Raktbeejas like him. This way he went on killing and destroying. When Mother's patience ended, she burst up in massive anger taking the form of Kaali. She wanted blood. She leaped and flung her weapon like a hurricane cutting up all the Raktbeejas, but they wud keep growing more and more as soon as their blood touched the ground. In her fierce madness, mother Kaali opened her mouth wide like a giant and started sucking all the blood that came out of these demons with such a force, that no drop of Raktbeej's blood ever touched the ground. Once all the demons were dead, Kaali was still angry, could not control her wrath, as she is the form of pure wrath. She continued to kill all other evil demons as well, in her madness, to which Shiva and other Gods got worried that she would destroy the meaning of life (good vs evil struggle) if she kills the entire species of demons in her anger. This would harm the balance of life as every creation has an intended purpose of it existing.

Shiva laid himself as a corpse to stop Kali

So Shiva laid himself down as a corpse in the way of Kali who was madly walking over them searching for any demons alive. As soon as her feet touched Shiva's body, which is considered super disrespectful, she got a shock, her tounge stuck out in shame and she realized that she is also a poised Parvati, the wife of Shiva. The anger receded, and she got back to her old form of "Parvati".

Why is Kali so fierce?
We see the essence of Kali in nature everywhere. Try troubling new born cubs or pups, surely their mother won't spare you. The mother of a newborn human baby, if someone tries to kill her baby, she takes the form of Durga first trying her best to protect her child, and sometimes she could even become Kaali, take up weapons, knowing no shame, fight to kill. The mother in this form is so full of love & emotions for her child that she will fight anyone even till her own death to protect her child. This is the true essence of motherhood. She doesnt care about dangers, society, and her feminine poise. She only thinks of attacking anyone who comes close to her child, like an animal.


Why is Kaali naked ?
We see naked images and sculptures of all Gods/godesses in ancient Indian historical sites and art. Clothing was more of an ornamentation back then. Mostly it was worn to segregate people in work, like a jersey is used. 

Shame was seen in a bad task, not a bare body.
(Sculpture of a Goddess)

Painting of a queen.
The servant has cloth but no jewels.
Clothing was a way of  tagging & ornamentation back in time.
(Ajanta cave paintings, India)

Another example of ancient attitudes to nudity
visible in the sculpture

Modern art forms of the same Goddesses,
now covered up, shows the ways of our narrow minded society,
which considers bare bodies shameful & lustful.

So for example, all the queens servant wore a white robe, and the kings guards wore a red head gear. Shame because of a bare body, wasn't existent in people's minds, as is seen in the ancient art. This is also seen in all other art forms from Greek to Egyptian to Meopotamian.

We see this culture even today among the tribals anywhere in the world, who live away from the society, in nature's goodness, knowing no shame. Look at their simple faces. it shows that they are much more pure and logical in their thinking. They respect man, woman and nature equally and do not lust after bare skin which is something every human is born with. Cloth is only used for protection and utility.

The free and open minded attitudes of tribals all around the world, which are remnants of civilizations.
Some form of rigid and vulgar mindset took away this innocence from the world.
In each photo you can see men and women together.

But still why is Kali not even adorned with jewels and ornamentation like other feminine forms shown above? Why is her hair flowing wild? Why doesn't she behave demurely and gracefully like women do? That's because only when she quits her poise of a woman, will she be immune to all fear. The shame of a person is the biggest drawback in a fight. If we feel shameful in a fight because our clothes got torn at the wrong places, or for other reasons, and our opponent starts making fun, our strength, our confidence and will to fight is greatly reduced. And knowing the demons, they would definitely try all possible ways, to bring disgrace to a female warrior(who is also a graceful married wife of Shiva), which is why she gives up all her grace in the beginning itself and transforms into a mad animal like being trying to protect her babies; ie us.

Why is Kaali also benevolent?
Kaali is realized as an eternal truth of Shakti - the feminine power of the cosmos. She runs through our very bodies and mind. She is seen as benevolent to those whom she is protecting. It is very obvious that if someone is fighting madly for a cause, like soldiers who madly and bravely fight for their motherland, not knowing fear of death, they must be extremely loving towards their country, ie. the subject whom they are protecting. The Indian revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves at young ages for the love of their country, people still tell tales of their mad love for their motherland (the subject). Thus if Kaali or even Durga for that matter, is fierce against elements who are harming the creation, including us, it would mean that she must also madly love us. We are her babies whom she loves in the same raw, unpoised, feminine way.

'Ramkrishna Paramhansa' and wife 'Sarada Devi'
(19th cent - in white clothes), considered to be God
incarnate themselves, are one of the greatest loving
devotees of Maa Kali. Many miracles have been 

witnessed around them in their lives. Their teachings have 

touched many lives & their ashram has a vast following today.

Kaali is invoked to protect from evil spirits, evil intentions and negative feelings. She is invoked in particular rituals for various purposes as she brings in the immense raw power of Shakti, which is sometimes difficult to handle. 

Many exorcists often use her mantras and rituals to ward off evil spirits and sometimes even to gain power to control the spirits or to do black magic. However stories and accounts, and even wizards and exorcists themselves have always told us that whenever any of these powers given by her, which are tremendous, are misused, Kaali punishes and even those punishments are tremendous, usually leading to death of the practitioner.

She is the fierce but also the simple minded mother who wants no Tantra wizardry to impress her, but only pure love and thus would prefer a loving devotee over the wisest Tantra wizards. That is the essence of the largely mistaken Maa Kali- the protector, the master of Tantra, the controller of spirits, the destroyer, the fierce mother, the most loving, the most benevolent, the maddest, the kindest...

She makes me feel secure.
She is Pure Wrath... and Pure Love.

TAGS : Hinduism, Hindu, Vedic, om, India, Veda, ancient, natural, Brahma, Hindusthaan, Idol, worship, Philosophy, avataar, body, consciousness, devotee, devotion, existence, hanuman, idol, images, learning, love, meditation, mind, moksha, religious, shiva, soul, tribals, vedas, vishnu, you, Diversity, Harmony, Kaali, Kali, One, Polytheism, Unity, Unity in Diversity, belief, brain, communal, communities, competition, demon, dessert, education, experiment, eyes, food, forest, goddess, happy, indigenous, karma, lakshman, lakshmi, laws, living, loving, me, nirvana, ornament, love, our, pantheism, parvati, people, powers, prosperous, ram, ravan, rebirth, reincarnation, religare, religion, sage, saint, saraswati, save, search, shakti, share, sita, society, soul, searching, still, trinity, us, we, world, worship