The Deathless Self

The Upanishads mainly talk about realizing the one truth - we are a part of Brahman and we are deathless. By "we" it, of course, refers to our eternal soul -- the immortal self. Identification with the body causes chagrin, disappointment and sadness leading one to be born again and again until we successfully embrace the universal reality. We are not born, neither do we die. This central idea also forms the core of the Gita, where Krishna teaches Arjun to stop mourning the loss of his family. The wise do not cry for their beloved for they know we never cease to exist.

Of course such talk is easier said than done. When we lose someone we care about, sadness and tears are bound to flow. Even if one accepts the idea that we are deathless,  we still lose the person in that "form", don't we? So then we as humans must be placing an identity on the human form, rather than the spirit. The spirit, one might say, does not have a face or a body so even if our loved ones went back to that form, how would we recognize them? That's where the difficult reality comes into play - if we realize Brahman, we would live with our loved ones forever. There would never be a feeling of loss because we are all One.

As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, though wherever we taste the water it is salty, the separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self.

-- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The Self is the ear of the ear,

The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind

The word of words and the life of life.

Rising above the senses and the mind

And renouncing separate existence,

The wise realize the deathless Self.

-- Kena Upanishad