DISCRIMINATION

The task of a spiritual aspirant, according to Shankara in his Crest Jewel of Discrimination, is to learn the difference between what is eternal, i.e. abiding, and what is non-eternal, i.e. transient.

The purpose of such discrimination is to reach the ultimate truth.  That truth is Tat Tvam Asi, translated as That Art Thou.  You are Brahman.  Or as philosopher Alan Watts put it, "You're it. You're the whole works."

The place one finds this truth is not outside oneself but within.  As Christ said, "The kingdom of heaven is within."

Swami Brahmananda, one of Sri Ramakrishna's original disciples, said, "He who finds it within, finds it everywhere.  He who cannot find it within, cannot find it anywhere."

Discrimination has three steps:

(1) First, you have to hear about this truth, Tat Tvam Asi, from the scriptures and from an illumined teacher.  With the advent of the Internet, there is knowledge of this truth everywhere and from many illumined teachers.

(2) Next, you must reason upon this truth, understand it intellectually.  Does it sound feasible?

(3) Finally, you must meditate upon this truth.  You meditate until you feel in your bones that it is valid.  And with this, you no longer identify with your physical, mental, and intellectual self, what is called in Vedanta the sheaths.  The goal is to experience this truth to where you rise above body, mind, and self.

One's true nature is immortal, abiding, eternal, and blissful.  We experience this as the Atman, the subjective aspect of the Brahman.  The Atman is the experiencer of all experiences.  An important distinction must be made, though.  A person does not have the Atman, in the sense of having a soul.  Rather a person is the Atman. 

The nature of the Atman is quite different from that of the body.  It is the ignorant man who identifies himself with the transient body, with what is non-eternal.  This is not to say that a person cannot be conscious of the body, as when he is hungry, but then he can quickly detach himself from such consciousness and return to Atman consciousness, ultimate truth.  This is discrimination.