SELF-OPINION

Self-opinionated people guided by the sense organs dwell in the ovary of the body-mind-intellect system. Those individuals, Sage Ashtavakra (Ashtavakra Gita, 1.8-9) proclaims, have succumbed to the "self-opinion" of 'I am the doer' and are engulfed in the forest of ignorance. Sage Ashtavakra argues that these individuals should embrace the belief that 'I am not the doer', fuelled by the knowledge that 'I am the one pure awareness', leading to happiness and freedom from distress. However, these self-opinionated people remain confined to the idea that 'I am the doer,' with characteristics of what the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (16.4-15) says are hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance. Such qualities are the cause for their continuing destiny of bondage in the Samsara Chakra (wheel of birth and death), as they possess neither purity nor noble conduct nor even truthfulness. The world for them, the Bhagavad Gita contends, is without any basis for moral order and without any Absolute Existence, or Supreme Self, or Absolute Truth. The two sexes combine to create it, and its sole purpose is sexual gratification. Harbouring insatiable lust, full of hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, the demonic, self-opinionated, and bereft of true self-knowledge, they cling to their false, illusionary tenets that the gratification of desires and accumulation of wealth are the highest purposes of life. Thus deluded, they find themselves drawn to the fleeting and engage in actions with impure determination. Their numerous desires enslave them, and lust and anger drive them to amass wealth unjustly, satisfying their insatiable cravings. These people think, “I have gained so much wealth today, and I shall now fulfil this desire of mine. This wealth is mine, and tomorrow I shall have even more. I have destroyed that enemy, and I will do the same to the others! I am like God Himself; I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, I am powerful, and I am happy. I am wealthy, and who else is equal to me? I shall perform sacrifices to the designated divinity; I shall give alms; I shall rejoice.” Their own veil of ignorance deludes them in this way.

1. Outline

The self, which vacillates within the spectrum of the body-mind-intellect complex and is engulfed in the insatiability of desires, is the subject of self-opinion. It is encapsulated with egotism, craving to savour the objects under a veil of ignorance in a phenomenal world. The very nature of the phenomenal world is transient attachment, malevolence, anxiety, and agitation in a state of opposites: happiness and distress, success and failure, hot and cold, love and hatred, etc. The moot point is to recognise the Self (Atman) that is eternal and imperishable that transcends the limitations of the ego (Ahamkara) to achieve enlightenment and liberation. They teach that the ego, which identifies with the physical body and its experiences, is an illusion that obscures the true nature of the Self. The Upanishads posit that there is a true, eternal, and unchanging Self within every subject and object, which is an inseparable essence of Brahman, or Absolute Existence. The very existence is the ultimate reality: absolute truth, imperishable, Sanatana, indivisible and infinite. A sense-gratified mind cannot define or comprehend that. Whatever way one may comprehend through negative-positive centreness, Atman is Sat-Chit-Anand (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), or Satyaṃ Jñānamanantaṃ Brahma (Real, Consciousness, Infinite is Brahman). It is Sat, as it exists in the past, present and future. Atman is Chit, as it is self-effulgent, for it shines by itself, unaided by any other light, and illumines the whole universe by its own light. Atman is Anand: bliss forever, uncaused and unexcelled. All these indicate that Brahman, or Cosmic Self, is Ultimate Reality. The ego, or Ahamkara, is the source of self-opinion, which is tied to the "I" or "me" that relates to body-mind-intellect experiences. The Upanishads teach that the ego creates a false sense of separation and individuality, leading to suffering and attachment. The goal of meditation, according to the Upanishads, is to transcend the limitations of the ego and realise the true nature of the Self. Self-realisation, or recognising the oneness of Atman and Brahman, is the ultimate goal, leading to liberation and freedom from suffering. 

2. Scriptures

One is as one thinks, so declares the Ashtavakra Gita (1.6-11). If an individual perceives themselves as free, they truly are, and if they perceive themselves as bound, they truly are. Here this saying is true, "Thinking makes it so". It asserts that righteousness and unrighteousness and pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of one. The cause of one's bondage is that one sees the witness as something apart from this. Since the "self-opinion" of 'I am the doer' has bitten you, embrace the truth that 'I am not the doer' and find happiness. The Ashtavakra Gita says to burn the forest of ignorance with the fire of the understanding that "I am the one pure awareness" and be happy and free.Mind makes one think in a particular way. There are four categories of people, in accordance with the Sukti Sudhakar:

eke satpuruṣāḥ parārthaghaṭakāḥ swārthān parityajya ye

sāmānyāstu parārthamudyamabhṛitaḥ swārthā virodhena ye

te ’mī mānav rākṣasāḥ parahitaṁ swārthāya nighnanti ye

ye tughnanti nirarthakaṁ parahitaṃ te ke na jānīmahe [v5]

The first category, according  to Sukti Sudhakar, consists of saintly individuals who put the good of others before their interests. The second group consists of regular individuals who think that helping others is important as long as it doesn't hurt them. The third type is the monster who, if it serves their interests, has no problem hurting other people. There is a fourth category of individuals that hurt other people without any justification other than sadistic pleasure. They have no appropriate name. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita (7.15-16) declares that there are eight kinds of people, and of them, four kinds of people are devoted to the Self, and four others remain confined to their outer self to satiate their insatiable desires. They are the distressed, or those who are unable to cope with the miseries of the world; the seekers of knowledge, or knowledge of the Self, or Self-realisation; the seekers of worldly possessions, or those who consider what is best for them to come only from the mercy of divinity; and those who are situated in knowledge, or those who consider themselves as one indivisible essence of Cosmic Self. The other four categories of people as per the Bhagavad Gita (7.15) are ignorant of knowledge, or lack of knowledge or awareness of Self; those who lazily follow their lower nature though capable of knowing Me, or those who have knowledge and awareness of what they need to do but due to their laziness are unable to do so; those with a deluded intellect, or those who take pride in their egotism derived from their body-mind-intellect complex; and those with a demoniac nature, or those who have an inflated ego, take pride based on self-ego and consider themselves at par or superior to divinity. Sri Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, paints a striking picture of the demoniac mentality's deteriorated state. Blinded by pride, they think along these lines: "I come from a rich and aristocratic family." I do what I enjoy, and I am wealthy and influential. Since I resemble God, I don't need to kneel down to him. When people utter "I," it's usually their ego, not themselves speaking. Personal identifications with beliefs, outward manifestations, grievances, etc. are all part of the ego. This ego creates its own identity, and people identify with ideas, feelings, and memories they see as essential to who they are. Owning is what the ego connects with, although the joy of possession is typically fleeting. It contains a deep-seated sense of "not enough" discontent. Unease, restlessness, boredom, worry, and discontent are the outcomes of this unmet desire. As a result, they develop a greatly distorted perception of reality, further separating their sense of "I" from their true selves. But an undisciplined, self-opinionated person, asserts the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (2.66), who has not controlled the mind and senses, can neither have a resolute intellect nor steady contemplation on Self-consciousness. For one who never unites the mind with Brahman, or Cosmic Self, there is no peace; and how can one who lacks peace be happy? The mind, not controlled by intellect, has a tendency to move outward to satiate worldly pleasure, unaware of its qualities as opposites. Such individuals having an uncontrolled mind, according to the Bhagavad Gita (14.11-13), tend to vacillate with the qualities of greed, exertion for worldly gain, restlessness, craving, nescience, inertia, negligence, and delusion. The mind is a double-edged sword. It can be blissful as well as full of bane if it remains untamed. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita (6.5) says that the mind can be both friend and foe, so one should elevate oneself through mental power. The Upanishads chant aphorisms based on the ultimate unity of the self with Brahman. Its aphoristic statements, such as (i) Aham Brahmāsmi,” Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10) and the Śukla Yajur Veda, refer to “I am Brahman;” (ii) “Tat Tvam Asi”, Chāndogya Upanishad (6.8.7), Sāma Veda, refers to "Thou art That"; (iii) “Ayam Ātmā Brahma”, Mandukya Upanishad (1.2), Atharva Veda, refers to "This Self (Atman) is Brahman"; and (iv) “Prajñānam Brahma", Aitareya Upanishad (3.3), and Rig Veda refer to Consciousness is Brahman".

 3. Remarks

Persons situated in the Self, remain in a steady state of equanimity, forbearance and detachment. They are alike in happiness and distress; who are established in the Self; who look upon a clod, a stone, and a piece of gold as of equal value; who remain the same amidst pleasant and unpleasant events; who are intelligent; who accept both blame and praise with equanimity; who remain the same in honour and dishonour; who treat both friend and foe alike; and who have abandoned all enterprises – they are said to have risen above the three guṇas (modes, or qualities). The ego of self-opinion based on "I"-ness and the illusion of separation from I am Brahman is caused by Avidya, or ignorance. Maya is the illusion that obscures the true nature of reality. Atman is the Self, the self-effulgent, the light of all lights, is the eternal and unchanging essence within. Brahman, the Absolute Existence, or the Ultimate Reality, is the source and ground of all existence.

 -Asutosh Satpathy