By Eknath Easwar

The perennial philosophy:

• There is an infinite changeless reality beneath the world of change
• This same reality lies at the core of every personality
• The purpose of life is to discover this reality experientially

The characters:

• Atman: the eternal self
• Brahman: the god head
• Darma: the law that expresses the unity of creation (the essence of something)
• Karma: the web of cause and effect
• Samsara: the cycle of birth and death
• Moksha. / Nirvana: spiritual liberation
• Maya: the creative power of the Brahman (reality)

The mind looks at unity and sees separateness. It looks at the eternal and sees the finite. These are the preset conditions of perception. This is beyond our control. Our mistake is thinking this perception is reality.

We behold what we are and we are what we behold

Many seek to go beyond maya, beyond our physical reality, to a higher place. To the eternal self, the Atman.

When one realizes the Atman, and sees beyond the Maya, they lose the fear of death for they realize the eternal nature of their true self

It is the Darma of a scorpion to sting — darma is nature

We never experience the world, only our own nervous system

Senses and sense objects are bridges by consciousness (the eye and the mango) — neither exists without the other