Introduction to Self

The individual self is always felt and experienced with its body. The self remains inside the body, as though, it is inseparable from its body. Remaining inside the body, it understands the object, as being given to understand by the senses provided in the body. The self comes to know of the object and sinks itself into experience of the object. The self does not realize how it comes to know of the experience but presumes that the experience comes to it immediately without the tattvas . Also it does not continue to be immersed in the experience nor does it continue to have the awareness of it.^[1]

The self severs itself from this condition and undergoes into five states of consciousness, owing to the increasing influence of anavamala . The last of the five stages leads the self to go below the level of consciousness. This is said to be incidental to the nature of the self in its bound state i.e. embodied sakala state of existence. Thus the self undergoes mutations of states of consciousness from wakeful awareness to dream, from dream to sleep and from sleep to states below even the biological level. This state of oneness with mala is termed by Umapati Shivam as transcendental state of the self. Thus he draws our attention to suggest that the goal of spiritual freedom is to be reached through spiritual life. This is to be achieved likewise as oneness with the Divine Light radiating its mercy from the other end constituting the transcendental destiny of the individual.